Autophobia
by CaroLeitz
Summary: Freddy's is a distant memory to Henry Emily- at least, he wants it to be. He founded Junior's Pizza to forget, but his daughter, Charlie, isn't so eager to leave Freddy's behind. Her father carries on like it never existed, but she knows he's hiding something. A horrific incident sends her searching for answers and she discovers nothing but twisted secrets and deceptions. (AU)
1. Chapter 1: One of THOSE Days

"Hello, boys and girls!"

It didn't matter how many times Charlie heard that boisterous animatronic voice- it made her jump every time, at least at 8 in the morning. She looked up from the dozens of party favors in front of her to see Nedd Bear waving to invisible children while Pigpatch, Orville, and Happy Frog sprung to life beside him.

"It's a wonderful day here at Junior's Pizza! Let me introduce you to my friends!"

Charlie tuned out the rest of the familiar dialogue and went about setting a nearby table. She neatly placed an animatronic minifigure on each colorful foil plate along with a piece of paper and crayons. Her father had children's drawings all over the restaurant- it was all a part of the charm, he said. And charming it was, with purple and green walls, endless streamers, an old-school arcade and, of course, her father's iconic creations.

Mr. Hippo added to the animatronic banter from his corner of the restaurant as she steadied a Pigpatch figure, and Charlie immediately knew something was off. There was no clicking sound emanating from the purple mascot- his jaw was completely slack.

"...Dad?" She called, staring at the animatronic's gaping jaw.

"Yeah?" Her father's tone told her that she'd caught him in the middle of inventory.

"Nevermind!" She turned on her heels and headed to the back room, where she carefully dug through her father's multitiered toolbox, making sure it stayed organized to his liking. Malfunctioning jaws were an easy fix- all she needed was a medium-sized screwdriver and wrench, both of which she found quickly. By the time she made her way back out to the showroom floor, her father had placed some boxes on the prize counter. She had to move fast. Mr. Hippo's eyes followed her as she approached him from the right side of the stage, her tools in hand. She wondered if he understood her intentions.

"Too many stories, eh Mr. H?" The 19-year-old carefully felt for the power switch that was situated on an unmoving joint in the animatronic's neck. There was still no sign of Henry, and she relaxed. He was wary of her maintaining the robots even though she was following in his engineering footsteps. She'd even created an animatronic of her own. It was really only a vacuum with a self-sustaining power supply and light-up eyes, but she knew what she was doing.

After turning Mr. Hippo off, Charlie stood on her tiptoes in order to examine the moving joint that connected the robot's jaw to his head. It was working fine- there had to be an internal issue. After scanning the room one more time, she removed the hippo's mask and revealed the intricate endoskeleton underneath it. All she had to do was press the button directly under his jaw to reveal the internal components...

 _"Charlotte!"_

She stumbled backwards and hugged the large purple hippo, who didn't quake in the slightest. She turned to face her father with a sheepish smile but only got a scolding expression in return.

"Dad, it's fine. I was just trying to fix-"

"Charlie, those springlocks-" Henry sighed, running his fingers through his graying brown hair. "...I know you want to practice, but tell me first."

"You were busy."

"Charlotte."

She sighed and stepped off the stage, extending the tools towards him.

"Just... you can watch. Please just watch."

Charlie opened her mouth but thought better of it- he was already in a mood. On any other day she would've protested, but a busy, rainy Saturday with six birthday parties wasn't the day. She pulled up a chair and watched him work, the urge to tinker getting stronger and stronger.

"That oughta do it..." Henry replaced the large mask and reactivated Mr. Hippo, whose jaw was functioning but quite laggy. "Or not." He griped.

"I'm going to get some breakfast," Charlie decided, admittedly miffed. _I could've fixed it._

"Put these away first. And get me a coffee. Please." Henry held up the tools. Charlie nodded absentmindedly and took them from him, chewing on her lower lip in agitation. As she reentered the backroom, her own animatronic vaccum creation, Mr. Hugs, seemed to stare at her disapprovingly. She set the wrench and screwdriver down and switched the robot on, watching him swivel from side to side. It was a simple invention, but eventually Charlie wanted it to follow her around from table to table, entertaining kids and cleaning up pizza crumbs. Maybe then, if she proved her abilities, her father would let her maintain the robots without a hitch.

"I _can_ fix them. I fixed you." She muttered to the vacuum, adjusting one of its bendable arms. Mr. Hugs just stared and swiveled until she shut him off and grabbed her favorite green sweatshirt off of a nearby workbench. It was unseasonably cold and rainy, so much so that Charlie had to pull her hood over her head. Once out in the empty parking lot, she debated driving to her longtime boyfriend's house. John's parents, especially his mom, adored her and would give her multiple helpings of whatever the family was having for breakfast.

She decided against it and headed towards her favorite cafe. It was going to be a ridiculously busy day on top of inventory- her father needed her. Besides, there were still a few weeks left before John moved back to school. It was best not to hound him if they were going to make it through another Thanksgiving Break with their relationship intact. As Charlie rounded the corner and crossed the street, a biting gust of wind hit her face. She cursed and hunched over, brushing a strand of brown hair out of her face. The walk to Sandy's Cafe only took about five minutes, but the wind made it seem like twenty. The chimes above the old door sounded as Charlie entered the small establishment, only removing her hood once the door was safely closed behind her.

"Morning, Charlie." Sandy herself beamed at the girl from behind the counter.

"Hey." Charlie forced a smile and wandered over to the pastry case. "...Are you out of blueberry scones?"

"Got a few in the oven if you can wait for ten minutes." Sandy tucked a pen behind her ear and a tendril of golden blonde hair fell down in the process. Charlie nodded and made her way to the nearby coffee pot. She grabbed a cup and poured a packet of raw sugar into it, followed by a splash of heavy cream. Her father's order was much simpler- one sugar only.

"Large coffee kinda day, huh?" Sandy noted, wiping down the counter underneath the espresso machine.

"Yeah. Inventory _and_ a million parties..." Charlie decided to wait on adding the coffee to the cups.

"I hear ya. Got a catering order at 1 and my mid called in sick." Sandy lamanted, taking a long sip of coffee out of her own mug. "That's just business for ya." Charlie sat down at one of the small, wobbly tables next to the counter, picking at a loose thread on its pink tablecloth. The whole place was decked out with pastel colors. Lace curtains hung from the windows and soft white wall lights illuminated the cafe, giving it a teahouse-like vibe. There was only one other person in the cafe- an old man wearing a green sweater and drinking a cup of plain black coffee. Charlie reached for the day-old newspaper in the center of the table just as the door chimed again.

"Good morning. How can I help ya?" Sandy inquired to the newcomer. Charlie picked up the paper and skimmed the weather section, tuning out Sandy's conversation. She remained focused on the dismal 7-day forecast until she felt the table shift. The man who'd just walked in was sitting across from her, a large smile plastered on his face. _Really?_ Charlie glanced at the empty tables all around her. A loud, repetitive beeping noise resounded from the cafe's tiny kitchen.

"Looks like I goofed. Scones are ready now." Sandy disappeared and Charlie stood up, eagerly anticipating the hot treat and wanting to avert the man's gaze.

"Good morning." He said in a crooning British Accent, the overly-enthusiastic smile not leaving his face for a second.

"Morning." Charlie said awkwardly. She wasn't good with random conversations despite interacting with the public on a regular basis.

"Have I seen you around here before?"

"Umm… probably. I'm here a lot." She flashed her best customer service smile.

"No, I've seen you somewhere else. At one of the restaurants around here."

"...Junior's?" She said nervously.

"Oh, that's it! That pizza place with the frog and the hippo! Good stuff. You're a waitress, right?"

"Ummm… yeah." She lied. There was something seriously unnerving about the man, and it wasn't just the wide smile. He had greasy brown hair and thin features, with a sharply angled jawline. Sandy reemerged seconds later with a pastry bag and Charlie couldn't hide her relief.

"Threw in a cinnamon donut for your dad. Tell him not to be such a stranger, yeah? I miss talking to him."

"Once the kids are back in school, things will start slowing down. Then he'll be here more for sure." Charlie smiled. "Thanks, Sandy." She turned to the man.

"...Have a good morning." After pouring her coffees she turned to leave and nearly collided with a girl entering the cafe. She muttered an apology and rushed past, not wanting to keep her father waiting any longer. As she made her way down the sidewalk, she felt as though she were being watched. She glanced over her shoulder to see that her suspicions were correct- the girl was staring after her.

* * *

It ended up being one of _those_ days. Charlie found herself alone on the showroom floor after her father had locked himself in his office to finish inventory. It wasn't even 1 in the afternoon and they had two parties going on, each with at least 10 kids. She was essentially the floor manager, making sure everything was running smoothly. Well, as smoothly as possible. She looked up from the ticket machine she was refilling to see that neither party table had been bused. Huffing to herself, she walked into the kitchen to see all six waitresses standing around. They were seasonal high school hires and not nearly as reliable as Junior's few full-timers, one of which had called in sick that day.

"Hey guys, who has tables 5 and 12?" Charlie crossed her arms and glanced over at the chefs, some of whom appeared to be part of the banter.

"I have 12." One of the girls chirped.

"And 5?" Silence. Charlie glanced at the roster. "You guys can't be standing around. Just because Amy's not here doesn't mean you can slack off. There's plenty to clean." She was getting better at asserting herself in situations like these, but she definitely wasn't manager material.

"Okay. One second." Shannon, a 16-year-old sporting chunky brown highlights and pink lip gloss, jumped off the counter.

"No, not one second. I want everyone out on the floor now."

"Okay, we got it." The girls collapsed into giggles once she was gone but quickly re-assumed their places on the floor. As Charlie reentered the dining room, she caught sight of her father standing outside the front door, talking to a well-dressed man. He had one hand on the door handle and the other on his hip, nodding along to whatever was being said. She heard "Freddy's" and reflexively froze. "Freddy's" was essentially a dirty word in their household. She wandered to a nearby table to listen in, pretending to examine some drawings left behind by its former patrons.

"I understand," Henry was saying, "But it's out of the question."

"You're the only one who knows what makes them tick, per say. I'm willing to pay-"

"I'm not interested." Her father's voice rose. "Anybody with mechanical experience can go in there and fix what needs to be fixed."

"Can you at least take a look for us? We're desperate here. Nobody wants to touch the things." The man's voice was laced with desperation.

Henry caught a glimpse of Charlie and pulled the door shut, looking as though she'd caught him stealing from her. She gathered the drawings on the table and stalked off to get some tape. Her father was always dancing around the topic of Freddy's. It was in the past, which he hated talking about. Junior's was their enterprise now, and Charlie was fairly certain that she'd own it someday. Then she could run things the way she wanted, and everyone who was interested in the upkeep of the animatronics could work with them. In the meantime, she'd have to run things to her father's liking, as she always did.


	2. Chapter 2: Led Astray

Charlie had expended the bulk of her customer service energy halfway through the night. She snagged a slice of supreme pizza from the kitchen and sauntered to her father's office, which was situated in a corridor inaccessible to guests. It was just after the employee break room, where one of the dayside security guards was lazily scrolling through his phone. Henry was furiously typing away on his old Workstation PC when Charlie arrived in the office. She plopped herself down on an old desk chair and watched him. He was coding- something she hadn't seen him do for a long time.

This piqued her curiosity and she scooted her wheeled chair over.

"Is that something for Mr. Hippo?"

No response. She took a bite of pizza and leaned forward.

"Charlotte, please. I need you out on the floor." There was a new hostility in his voice that took her aback. Her father only acted like this when something was wrong. _What are you hiding from me now?_ Charlie couldn't help the flash of anger that surged through her. It was bad enough that he'd lied about the diner- it was anything but destroyed. She, her boyfriend John, and their friend Marla had found it completely intact- condemned, but intact, complete with a security system. It wasn't like she didn't know why it had closed down (there had been a murder) but clearly he didn't want her snooping around. It wasn't like she didn't remember his bout of depression upon reopening Freddy's and being less than successful, or the fact that, when she was away at school, he could only manage to pawn the franchise off on some poor business graduate desperate to have a franchise under his name.

That had to have been the mysterious man at the door. Slightly older, slightly wiser, desperate. Charlie stalked off as Henry opened his mouth to speak. She sauntered to the dining room for a soda, only to see John frantically fumbling with the controls of the Fruity Maze Game, their friends leaning against the case.

"You want to go the bottom first," Lamarr was saying, "Then you get the floaty ghost thing and-"

"You missed the lightning bolt!" Jessica griped, "You're screwed."

"I refuse service. Get out." Charlie grinned as she walked over to the group. All three young adults looked up in unison.

" _There_ you are. Thought you were stuck doing dishes again." John kissed her forehead, his game forgotten. She put her plate on top of the case and embraced him, savoring the smell of his cologne.

"Watch it, you two. This is a family place." Lamarr smirked.

"Where's Marla?" She responded in a sing-song voice.

"She said she was too tired." He shrugged.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Okay," Jessica's blue eyes widened with excitement, matching her hand gestures. "Clock out, we're going bowling."

"I can't. Dad needs me on the floor for-"

"He's had you for the past three weekends. Come on." John smiled sheepishly.

"But I have to-"

"Vacuum." Henry interrupted with a raised eyebrow. She winced.

"I know, dad. I was just about to say that."

"Please? John leaves in a few days-" Jessica began. John stomped on her foot.

"A few days?" Charlie's eyes instantly stung and her boyfriend gave her a sad smile.

"I decided to do that writing workshop. The one you said I should do?"

Henry huffed. "She can join you in an hour. How's that?" Charlie nodded and hugged John again, successfully holding back her tears.

"Okay. We'll be at the one in Medfield. Know where that is?" Lamarr inquired. She nodded. "Aight. Have fun vacuuming." He and Jessica trotted to the front door and Henry retreated to the kitchen, leaving Charlie and John alone.

"You're not mad, are you?"

Her head shook no on its own. She'd been the one encouraging him to do it.

"No. Just surprised. That's all."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He entwined their fingers.

"How about letting me and Jessica win tonight?"

"Not even for you." He sneered, his brown eyes playful. She pretended to pout and pushed him.

"Charlotte." Henry crooked a finger at her from behind the prize counter.

"I get off at 10, but I'll try for 9:15. Deal?"

John nodded.

"See ya. Don't get trampled by the kids, now."

With that, Charlie waded through the madness on the floor, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She yanked the garbage out of the prize corner trash can before her father even opened his mouth, pushing past him. She stumbled through the kitchen and into the back alley, where her tears mixed with the unseasonably cold rain. The top of the dumpster slipped between her fingers repeatedly, making a melodic clanging sound each time it came into contact with the bin. John's departure hurt, but the way Henry had been acting lately hurt more. He was callous and distant. She hadn't seen him like this since she was a child and he'd divorced her mother.

The trash bag slipped through Charlie's fingers and fell to the ground, dispersing its contents. She stood frustrated and sopping wet, ineffectively wiping her tears with her forearm. "Charlie?"

When their eyes met, Henry's face softened instantly.

"...You can go. Get changed and see everyone."

"But…" She kicked at a plastic prize bag.

"Go."

She flashed a half-smile and raced back inside to get the keys to her Blue Honda without so much as a thanks.

* * *

It was 9:45 by the time Charlie stepped out of the house wearing her favorite green jacket and jeans. She'd even put on a bit of mascara and some concealer to mask her raw cheeks, which were still stinging from her crying fit earlier. At least her sniffling had ceased. They'd never know.

"Hey, just wanted to let you know I'm on my way. Bye." She said into the cellphone balanced on her shoulder, also juggling her umbrella and keys.

"Excuse me?"

The 19-year-old turned around to see another young woman at the end of the driveway. She wore a long pink raincoat, matching boots, and had what appeared to be a large purse hanging off of her right shoulder. Her blonde hair was nothing short of soaked and was stuck to her thin face.

"Can you help me? My car broke down at the end of your street and your house is the only one with lights on."

"Umm…" Of course there was another hitch in the day.

"Can I use your phone?"

"Sure." Charlie sighed, handing the red flip phone over. The woman dialed a number and retreated down the driveway. "Umm-"

Her mouth twisted in agitation as the blonde gestured for her to follow. _What now?_


	3. Chapter 3: Blackout

"I'm Elizabeth, by the way." The young woman chirped happily.

"…Charlie."

As the duo made their way down the alleyway, Charlie studied the young woman. She was literally skipping along, her blonde curls bouncing despite the rain soaking them. As she spoke into the phone, her voice grew shrill, almost childlike. Charlie awkwardly trotted to catch up to her, holding the umbrella over them. Elizabeth hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket, giving Charlie pause. The silhouette of a car appeared through the droves of rain at last- it was a dark blue Cadillac, parked neatly by the metal barrier that marked the dead end of the alley.

A lanky man stepped out of the Cadillac, deploying a purple umbrella in the process. He was sullen in appearance, with greasy-looking brown hair and a toothy smile. The man from Sandy's. _I shouldn't be here._ The whole situation was off-putting from the start, but the man's demeanor had Charlie pausing again- her feet simply wouldn't move.

"I found someone to help us, daddy!" Elizabeth's voice took on a childlike note that took Charlie aback.

"I see that." The man sniggered. There was that brash British Accent again. It sure didn't help his case. Charlie stood rigidly before the pair.

"What's… what's wrong with your car?" She muttered.

"Show her, Elizabeth." The man tilted his head in the direction of the trunk. Charlie warily followed Elizabeth's bouncing pigtails to the back of the car.

"Daddy says there's something wrong with the axel." She explained, "Or the tire on the right side."

"Oh… I uh, I know how to change a tire, but you should probably..." She trailed off. The man, who she could only assume was related to Elizabeth, was coming up behind her. She could hear his sloshing footsteps. When she glanced over her shoulder, however, he was only leaning against the side of the cadillac and watching her intently.

"Look, I can help if it's a tire problem, but you should probably call a tow truck anyway." She looked pointedly at Elizabeth, whose hands were deep in her raincoat's pockets. She could see the outline of her red flip phone in the left one.

"I've got a spare tire in the back." The man sauntered over and Charlie immediately moved out of his way.

"Okay..."

"I'll hold the umbrella while you fix it." Elizabeth chirped. _Just like you're holding my phone?_ Charlie thought, her mouth twisting in agitation.

"Here, you jack it up and I'll get the spare." The man said.

"Wait, d-do I know you?" She stammered. Something clicked in her mind, other than having seen him at the cafe, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Well, you saw me earlier and you've probably seen me around town. Small world."

Charlie nodded and bent down, reluctantly handing her umbrella to Elizabeth. She cranked the rusty jack with some difficulty but managed it.

"Okay… do you have a-" She cut herself off with a surprised grunt and fell to the ground. It took a moment for her brain to register the immense pain she was suddenly feeling in the back of her head. Black spots blurred her vision and she fell backwards to see Elizabeth's accomplice looming above her, a tire iron held above his head.

"It's a damn shame I have to do this." He sneered, "You're such a pretty one."

Elizabeth burst into shrieking laughter. Charlie tried to shield herself with her forearm to no avail, silent tears running down her cheeks. She was struck once, twice, three times in the forehead. She was frozen with shock, choking on the cry she tried to utter.

"Make sure to send your father my regards." The man sneered. Elizabeth's laughter accompanied her into darkness seconds later.

* * *

 _Thump. Thump._ Charlie's heavy eyes opened for only a second before she had to close them. The rain was falling down in droves and into her eyes. _Thump. THUMP._ The noise beside her was constant and riveting. _THUMP!_ She heard the screeching of Junior's kitchen door and managed to keep her eyes open long enough to see a silhouette in the doorway. It was animatronic-like, with defined and jointed arms and legs. Charlie rolled over with a groan, pressed her hands against the asphalt and attempted to push herself up; however, she only vomited and collapsed.

One red eye came into view as she focused; the other was either black or simply gone. She shut her eyes tightly and prayed for unconsciousness to claim her again. The pain in her head was unbearable. There was the sound of creaking animatronic joints, a hiss and then the heavy sound of work boots.

" _What the hell?"_

Charlie groaned again and reached towards her father's voice. She felt water hit her bloodied face as he stumbled forward.

"No no no no no…." He fell to his knees. She tried to speak but only coughed violently. "Charlotte!"

She fell back into darkness but welcomed it. Darkness meant the pain was gone.

* * *

" _Hellloooo, boys and g-girls! It's a gr-gre-great night here at J-Junior's! My name is F-F-Fr-Freddy Fazbearrrr! Let me intro-introduce you to m-my band!"_

The old robots? _Charlie stared up at the stage in awe. There they were: Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, and of course, Freddy. When had her father brought them back? She was alone in the restaurant, which looked every bit like Junior's. She wandered over to the stage for a better look._ I can't believe it. _The robots weren't speaking anymore- four pairs of eyes simply studied her every move._

" _Charlotte?" Her father's voice sounded distant. She turned towards his voice and stumbled- it had turned pitch black in the split second she'd taken to turn around._

" _Dad?" She bumped against a table. "Dad!"_

" _Itttt'ss time to eaaaaaaattttt!" Chica was suddenly beside her, her mouth gaping. Charlie could clearly see the chicken's endoskeleton, a nightmarish sight. She tried to run, but her legs felt as though they were filled with cement. Everything in her told her that she needed to get to the back room. It was to the left- no, the right._

" _Arrrrrrggghhh! Come here, ya little scalawag!"Foxy chortled, sounding closer than ever before._

" _CHARLOTTE!" Her father's voice was just as close. Only a few more steps… she stumbled into the dark room and slammed the door. She saw Mr. Hugs in a nearby corner and cowered next to him; however, he'd taken on a much more sinister appearance, with a gaping mouth filled with teeth._

" _Chaarrrlliiieeeee…" A new voice cooed. It was digitized and robotic yet somehow human. Charlie sunk to the floor and willed herself to merge with the wall. There was the sound of animatronic joints creaking and then she saw it- a golden rabbit animatronic, disheveled and broken. It stood above her menacingly, eyes glowing. Its teeth were very much visible due to the fact that the fabric around them had disintegrated._

" _CHARLIE?" There was yet another male voice that she didn't recognize. Suddenly there was a chorus of voices calling her name. As the golden rabbit reached for her, she screamed…._

* * *

She sat bolt upright, her throat stinging and head pounding. Her father gasped beside her and somebody else came rushing into the dark room and switched on a dim light, walking to the other side of the bed.

"Wait a second, WAIT A SECOND." Henry snapped. Tears filled Charlie's eyes as pain set in and she fell back into her pillow.

"...What?"

"Charlotte, honey… you're okay." Her father placed a cool hand on her forehead. The bags under his hazel eyes were more prominent than ever.

"She pulled out her IV. We're going to have to replace it."

Charlie stared at the chipper brunette in scrubs.

"Can you just give us a second? Please." Henry's voice shook. The woman reluctantly walked out of the room.

"Dad?" She rasped. Her throat was on fire.

"You're fine, baby. Just fine." He soothed. She tried to speak again but only let out air.

"You're in the hospital. You… you…" He reached down and tucked some brown hair behind her ear. Charlie racked her brain trying to remember what had transpired, but her mind was blank. She remembered the pain. That was it.

"I… fell?" Was that relief in his eyes?

"You were in a car accident on the way to the bowling alley. You don't remember?"

She shook her head, albeit painfully. Relief flooded Henry's features.

"Okay, hon, we're just going to reset your IV. I'm Karen." The brunette in scrubs entered the room with a small tray. Henry squeezed Charlie's hand before she even asked him to. She winced in pain as Karen slipped a needle under her skin and then taped it in place.

"Water?" She choked. Henry handed her a cup with chips of ice. Karen laughed lightly at the dismayed expression she gave him.

"You're getting your water from that, honey." She pointed at the tube leading into Charlie's arm. "But now that you're awake, I can talk to the doctor about removing it. He gets here in about an hour. We might be able to get you some food, too." She thought for a moment. "How's your pain, on a scale of 1 to 10?"

"10." Charlie groaned.

"We'll get a little more morphine for you. You had quite the blow to the head."

"Wait, what about my car?"

"The accident totaled it, honey, I'm sorry." Henry sighed, "We'll see about getting you another one once you're feeling better."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Karen called.

"She's awake!" John's expression went from solemn to elated as he entered the room.

"Visiting hours don't start until 8." Henry said quizzically, "Except for immediate family."

The boy smiled sheepishly.

"Let me rephrase that. My _fiancee_ is awake!"

"You didn't." Charlie laughed to the best of her ability.

"You'd better only be saying that." Henry raised an eyebrow and John paled.

"I'm yanking your chain, kid. Just give me a head's up before the real thing, yeah?"

"Of course, Mr. Emily."

"Henry. If you don't mind, I'm going to stretch my legs a little. Maybe see if the cafeteria is open yet." Henry stood up.

"It's not. The coffee shop is, though." John smiled and took his chair.

"See you kids later."

Charlie sighed in reply. John took her hand and thoughtfully rubbed it.

"Car accident, huh?"

"I guess so. I don't remember anything." She frowned.

"It's probably a concussion, then. In severe cases, you usually can't remember the accident that caused it."

"Nooo, really?" She jibed.

"You're talking to a psych minor, honey." John reminded her with a smile. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other's company.

"So, I don't know if you remember this, but I _was_ going to a writer's workshop, but-"

"John…"

"You'll need someone to take care of you while your dad's at work."

"Aunt Jen will take care of me. I appreciate the offer, but you have to go to that workshop. You've been talking about it all Summer."

"I know, but-"

She put a finger to his lips. He kissed it after a moment, smiling sheepishly.

"I'll be fine. I promise."

"Okay, but I'm calling you every night and texting you every morning." He said decisively. As Charlie stared into his hazel eyes, she thought about the dream. It was still fresh in her memory, still painful. She debated telling him but thought better of it, leaning into his kiss instead. It was just a dream.


	4. Chapter 4: Tainted Visions

Charlie drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point the sun was shining through the double-paned window, but when she opened her eyes next it was pitch black outside. The 19-year-old carefully kicked her way out of the blankets that covered her and stood up. Her head protested with pain, and the black spots she'd become all too familiar with, danced in her line of sight. She winced and sat back down on the bed. _God dammit._ She was already tired of being helpless and waited on: she'd sent both John and her father home despite their protests.

When she finally made it to the bathroom, she got a good look at herself in the mirror. _Good God._ Her eyes were red and puffy, her chestnut brown hair was tangled, and band aids covered her face. Some of them covered stitches; she'd been told that flying glass had sliced her face in several places. She was tempted to step into the shower, but thinking about the effort that would entail made her queasy. She elected to wash her face and comb her hair with wet fingers instead. As she tugged at a particularly knotted tangle, the door to her room opened.

She waited for the cooing voice of a nurse that never came. Instead, as she stood there mid-hair pull, there was a low rumble. The reflection of flickering hallway lights danced a few feet away from her, by the bed. Nobody lingered in the doorway. Charlie blinked once, twice. There had to be a window open somewhere, sending gusty winds to shake the hanging hall lights. But the door was so heavy…

The rumble filled her ears again. This time it was menacingly low, like thunder. She turned off the water and the hallway lights snapped off. They didn't fade; they just shut off, as though someone had snipped their wires with scissors. The rumble came again, this time rhythmically. It almost sounded like a laugh. The lights came back to life for a split second and she saw it- a mass of darkness that took the shape of a bear. An animatronic bear with rows of sharp teeth and red eyes.

* * *

 _This can't be real. It's not_ _real. Not real. Not real._ Michael repeated to himself. The walls were closing in on him as he felt for the flashlight on the bedside table behind him. All it took was one click of the flashlight- _why_ couldn't he reach it? The monster laughed again, confirming its presence directly in front of him. Michael could see its glistening teeth and a hint of rough gold skin even in the darkness that enveloped them. He got a hold of the flashlight and flicked it on, trying not to recoil at the creature's appearance alone. _One click, one step back._ The creature finally disappeared into its dark abode, not to be seen again until his next "episode".

That was what Doctor Ray called them. "Episodes". Michael collapsed onto his bed, his lungs refusing to take air in normally. When his bearings returned to him at last, he picked up the worn journal on his bedside table. He flipped to the page featuring the creature exactly as he saw it- bared teeth, rotting golden skin, a purple top hat and matching bow tie. _IT'S ME._ He'd surrounded the creature with that phrase over and over again. Those words meant nothing to so many, but everything to Michael. He touched up one of the creature's teeth and then glanced at the discharge papers sitting on the desk under the window. _Tomorrow is another day._

* * *

Charlie picked at her breakfast. She was finally hungry; but not hungry enough for a whole omelette. She barely raised her head when John walked in, his backpack hanging off of his right shoulder.

"Hey."

"Hey." She was already choked up as he sat down next to her. The rain falling on the double-paned window stood in for talk.

"I-I have something for you... Before I go." John said finally. Charlie forced herself to look at him. His eyes were urgent. She moved the rotating tray on her bed to the side and watched intently as he dug around in his backpack.

"Close your eyes."

"Really?" He got a genuine smile out of her at last. He nodded, matching it. She shut her eyes and let out a small gasp as he slipped a ring onto her right ring finger.

"It's- it's a promise ring. I know it's not..." He trailed off as she examined it. It was a small ruby encrusted by even tinier diamonds. Charlie couldn't hold her tears back any longer. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder.

"It's perfect."

John laughed lightly.

"Jessica and Marla helped me pick it out. Basically, when the time comes, I-I'll replace it with something else. I promise."

When they parted, Charlie was surprised to see tears in his own eyes.

"It's perfect." She repeated, dabbing at her eyes.

"I'm sorry I can't stay any longer. I have to be on campus in three hours." John said mournfully, "But I heard you were getting discharged today. Congrats."

"Yeah. They still want dad to wake me up every few hours, but I can finally sleep in my own bed again."

He nodded and tilted her chin up with his fingers.

"I'll text you every day."

"When I have my new phone, that is."

Charlie's red flip phone hadn't survived her accident- it was gone along with all of her contacts.

"I'll call your house. And then the restaurant if you don't answer."

"I love you." They kissed deeply- he bit at her lower lip softly and pushed his tongue into her mouth gradually. She broke away only when breathing became a necessity.

"I love you too. Take care of yourself, baby." John stood up with a sigh and watched her until he disappeared out the door. She let out the sob she'd managed to keep in once she was certain he was out of earshot. The previous night had left her drugged up and reeling. She hadn't told him how it took three nurses to restrain her, or how she'd screamed continuously for ten minutes following her "hallucination".

They'd practically forced some antipsychotic medication down her throat after she'd told them what she'd seen. It was a wonder that they were still discharging her. Karen, her main nurse, had attributed it to her "traumatic brain injury" and given her a long medical explanation that she couldn't even begin to understand. Her father's voice echoed down the corridor along with Dr. Kessler's.

"Hiya, Charlie. We're getting you out of here today. How does that sound?" Dr. Kessler beamed at her despite the tears running down her face. Her father, on the other hand, was instantly concerned.

"G-good." She stammered. "I'm.. I'm just… my head hurts." That wasn't entirely a lie, although her pain was only a 3 out of 10 on the pain scale Dr. Kessler loved to refer to.

"We'll get you some Tylenol as well as a prescription for your new medication."

"New medication?" Henry raised an eyebrow. _Crap._

"I had a really bad dream and they gave me something to calm down." Charlie explained quickly. He would've found out eventually.

"Sometimes, with traumatic brain injuries, there's a disruption of sleep. This medication will help take the edge off." _Thanks, doc._ That was all her father needed to know. Henry looked wary nonetheless.

"Karen will be in to remove your IV and then we'll get you out of here in the next hour. Sound good?" Dr. Kessler scribbled on her chart.

"Yeah." Charlie tried to smile at her father to no avail. When Dr. Kessler stepped out of the room, Henry handed her the bag containing her clothes and turned away as she put them on.

"Do you know what it's called? The medication?"

"All I know is that it helps me sleep." She said calmly. She should've known that he'd be paranoid. He gave her the unconvinced nod that she hated with a passion.

"I'm done." She said flatly. Karen walked in before Henry could say anything else.

"Alright, sweetie. I have your discharge paperwork and prescription here. If you want to lie on that bed just one more time, we'll get that IV out." Charlie grabbed the stack of papers before her father could, studying them.

 _Charlotte Emily, F, 19_

 _Diagnosis(es): Traumatic Brain Injury, hallucinatory psychosis induced by T.B.I._

 _Take the following medications…._

 _If it's difficult to wake from sleep..._

 _If patient experiences suicidal thoughts, delusions, or has tendencies to harm self or others, bring to emergency department for immediate assessment._

As Charlie was pushed out to the parking lot in a wheelchair, (much to her dismay), she caught sight of a pink raincoat. The young woman wearing it was holding a large ice cream cone in one hand and a purple umbrella in the other. When Charlie made eye contact, she recoiled but couldn't look away. A bus growled by but didn't stop. As her father helped her out of the wheelchair and into the car, her mouth gaped. The woman was simply gone, ice cream and all.


	5. Chapter 5: Memories

The pills worked a little too well. Charlie found herself groggy from the time she woke up to at least mid afternoon. It didn't help that her father woke her up religiously throughout the night to ensure that she hadn't slipped into a coma. It had been nearly a month and a half since her accident but he wasn't taking any chances.

"One of these days you're gonna get punched." She told him one morning as she downed her third cup of coffee.

"I'd rather get punched than lose you, Charlotte."

She rolled her eyes and poured the creamer. The phone rang and Henry beelined to it before Charlie could even react.

"Hello? Yes, this is Henry." His expression instantly turned urgent and he stepped out of the kitchen with the phone, shutting the door on its cord. Charlie stirred her coffee, trying to pick up on bits and pieces of his conversation. The phone had been ringing at odd hours for the past week, and her father was constantly working late.

"...I see. Well…. No, that's normal."

Charlie wandered to the hallway phone.

"Well, not _that._ No, see, there's supposed to be…. Docking location…"

"That's the problem. There doesn't seem to be a docking location." A gruff voice griped on the other end of the line as Charlie carefully picked up the receiver.

"It's the stage. They shouldn't be wandering after hours."

"Well, they are, and I keep telling you that you're the only one who can fix it. And the Mangle- erm, Toy Foxy- is impossible to keep together. The kids keep tearing it apart! Can't you do _something?_ I'm desperate here!"

Henry sighed deeply.

"Look, I can come by and take a look, but no guarantees. I'm no longer associated with Fazbear Entertainment, so-"

"But they're YOUR robots. The mechanics from corporate don't know _shit._ I promise that I'll pay you when I'm able to."

"I'll be over in twenty minutes, okay? Okay."

"Thank you! It's about damn time-"

"You're pushing things, Greg."

"...Bye."

"Bye."

Charlie waited until both parties hung up to put down the receiver. She strode back into the kitchen as nonchalantly as she could.

"I have to head to Junior's early." Henry hurriedly ate a peanut-butter smeared bagel.

"I'll come with you. I'm feeling a lot better."

"No, you need your rest."

"I've been resting for a month." Charlie lamented.

"I can't leave once I'm there. If you end up not feeling well, I won't be able to bring you home."

"I'll just call Aunt Jen."

"Charlotte, please." Henry said sharply, "Just stay." He started for the back door.

 _What are you_ _ **hiding**_ _from me?_ She wanted to shout. It wasn't like she didn't know about the two Freddy's locations within a thirty mile radius of where she stood. There was Freddy and Friend's, which featured the sleek, modern Toy Animatronics, and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which featured older models. Charlie was almost certain that they were the same models from Fredbear's Diner. But ever since she'd come back from school for a gap year, her father acted as though they were Candy's Locations.

She stalked away, hugging her pink bathrobe with crossed arms.

"If you need anything-"

"Call Aunt Jen. I _know._ " She plopped down on the living room couch and switched on the TV. Henry came back to linger in the doorway connecting the two rooms and sighed.

"Put some clothes on."

She leapt off the couch and triggered a bout of vertigo. Henry darted to her side but she shrugged him off.

"I'm fine." She was running up the stairs and to her bedroom before he could change his mind.

* * *

"I haven't been completely honest with you, Charlotte." _Surprise, surprise._ They had forgone the highway exit to Junior's just seconds ago and she'd feigned shock. "There have been some… problems… at Freddy's. With the robots."

"Are you going to fix them?"

"That's the idea." Henry adjusted the rearview mirror slightly. "But other people, folks from corporate, have been tampering with them. That's probably why they're screwed up in the first place." There was a note of anger in his voice. Charlie's stomach fluttered as she caught sight of the Freddy and Friends' massive parking lot sign. There they were- her father's "toy" creations. That was what he called them. They did look like giant toys, with their plastic exteriors, wide, manga-like eyes, and flexible joints.

When they stepped inside the sliding glass doors, Charlie was instantly hit with nostalgia. The smell of pizza, plastic prizes, and birthday cake was somehow different at every Freddy's Location. She remembered this location fondly- she'd been a sophomore in high school when it had opened- her father's last attempt to revive the franchise before he'd sold it.

"The manager's office is this way, if I remember correctly. Why don't you have a look around?" Henry smiled sadly at her. He was remembering, too. Charlie nodded and wandered towards the arcade.

"Hi!" A child-like, robotic voice made her jump. She smiled slightly at the small humanoid animatronic at her feet. It was designed to look like a small boy, with the iconic pink cheeks each toy animatronic had. Balloon Boy- at least, that was what her father called him- wore a red and blue striped shirt and a working propellor beanie. The robot laughed and extended his permanently- affixed balloon to her, his wide blue eyes meeting hers.

"Hi, Balloon Boy." She turned to the employee manning the nearby balloon cart and placed a quarter in front of him. "For the next kid." The teen nodded slowly and gave her a curious look. It was hard to believe that the place was struggling- there were kids everywhere. She walked past a small carousel that she didn't remember, and then through arcade games that had definitely received an update since she'd last been there.

"Leettttttt's parttyyyyy!" A chipper voice came from one of the party rooms that lined the hallway her father had disappeared into. She poked her head around the corner to see Toy Chica and Mr. Cupcake entertaining a small group of kids. Some eagerly reached out to her while others shyly watched from afar. Charlie caught sight of one little girl holding a plushie tightly to her chest, looking like she wanted to get closer.

"Is Chica your favorite?" She asked, bending down to the girl's level. She nodded with a shy smile. "She's actually a friend of mine." The girl's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She and Mr. Cupcake are _really_ nice. Want to say hi?" She smiled at the girl's mom, who nodded when her daughter looked to her. Although Charlie wasn't wearing the Freddy's uniform, she was wearing a Junior's t-shirt, which had a similar aesthetic. The crowd of kids parted and she gestured to the animatronic chicken. "Now's your chance."

The little girl stumbled forward and stared up the animatronic chicken, who bent down to her level.

"Hi, Chica."

"Hello!" The robot chirped. The girl jumped back a little but smiled widely and patted .

"Charlie?" Henry waved her over. There was a rotund man standing next to him. He wore the traditional Freddy's manager uniform- a purple button up, black slacks, and a black tie. The security guards wore a similar getup, except they had to wear a badge and a company-issued hat.

"This is my daughter, Charlie. Charlie, this is Greg."

"Nice to meet you, Charlie." Greg had a gravelly voice that sounded as though he constantly had a frog in his throat.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled pleasantly, although she got a strange vibe from him. He looked more like a bouncer than the manager of a children's restaurant, sporting a severe crew cut and untamed beard.

"My employees could learn a thing or two from you. They don't care to engage with the little ones like that."

"She's great with kids. They just love her at Junior's." Henry beamed.

"Anyhow, this party's almost over. If you could take a look at ol' Chica first, that would be great." Greg sighed.

"I want to look around more," Charlie admitted, "If that's okay."

"Sure, why not? If you see anyone slackin', give me a holler." As the kids raced out of the room in droves with their parents behind them, Henry set down his tool box.

"Can you close off this room before you leave?" He smiled.

"Sure thing."

"Oh, and Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

She nodded absent-mindedly and wandered back out to the main show floor. Just as she was about to play Midnight Motorist, she became aware of what sounded like a music box. The tune was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. _Something, somethinggg, life seconds numbering, tick tock tick tock…._

She followed the sound to a dim hallway with restrooms on one side. There was another door that was opened just a crack at the end of the hallway. _Parts and Service,_ proclaimed the sign. The music got louder as she approached but died down as she stepped into the cold, musty room behind the door. Her hand flew to her chest and she gasped as the automatic lights flickered on. She saw Bonnie first- at least, she could only assume it was Bonnie. His entire face was gone, leaving his endoskeleton completely visible. He was also missing an arm. Chica's jaw had been pried open, and Freddy was lying on the floor, his blue eyes staring up at her. _These_ were the animatronics from Fredbear's- she recognized the endoskeletons right away.

But then… had her father created an entirely _new_ set of animatronics for Freddy Fazbear's? The door abruptly slammed behind her and she fell against Bonnie, whose joints groaned under her weight. A pang of nausea hit her as she stood up. She seethed and stumbled into the heavy metal door, which wouldn't budge. The music picked up again as she pounded at it fruitlessly. Her vision began to fade. _No. No!_ She sunk down to the floor, facing the back of the storage room. As darkness closed in on her, what little focus she had left fell on a locked chest buried in the dark recesses of the storage room.


	6. Chapter 6: The Vow

Chapter 6: The Vow 

Charlie's eyes fluttered open. At least, she assumed they were open; it was pitch black except for a sliver of light emanating from underneath the closed door. The automatic lights in the bleak room mercifully flickered on as she stood up, her head pounding. She slumped against Chica's sturdy frame, listening to the carnival-like music in the distance. It was somehow familiar and comforting, unlike the eerie music box melody that was still fresh in her memory. She hadn't hallucinated like that since her hospital stay- her heart was pounding in her head and she was weak in the knees.

The sound of her father's work boots against the tiled hallway floor was grating on her ears.

"Charlie?"

"In here." She muttered, pressing her hand against her forehead. Henry rushed into the room, his eyes wide with fright.

"Charlie, don't-!" He yanked his daughter away from Chica, prompting her to yelp in pain and protest.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed, "They're off! How could they hurt me?" The momentary pain wore off and Charlie's eyes narrowed. "And why are they here? You told me that they were destroyed."

"Charlotte, we have to go. Now."

"No!" The girl pulled away. "You've been lying to me this whole time! Why?"

Henry's expression softened and he reached for her, only for her to step back defiantly.

"I was about to scrap them, Charlie, but then Scott, the investor who bought Freddy's from me, begged me to make him new robots. To save time, I tried to retrofit these guys with new technology. Unfortunately, it was a lost cause. Remember all that money I had to borrow from Aunt Jen?"

Charlie nodded slowly.

"I used it to create the Toy Animatronics."

"But how did you open Junior's if the money went to building the Toys?"

"Aunt Jen also cosigned on a loan for me, and that loan went to Junior's. Fortunately, I've been able to pay it back in increments because it's successful. I truly wish I could say the same for Freddy's." Henry smiled sadly. Charlie wasn't convinced but held her tongue. Her father's explanation made sense, but it also seemed very rehearsed.

"Now, I'm about done here. Let me just tie up some loose ends with management and then we can go."

"Can we eat first? I feel lightheaded."

"I'd feel better about just getting you home if that's the case." Henry adjusted his glasses.

"Please? I want to keep watching them. The Toys." Charlie was shocked to hear the pleading in her voice. Despite the hallucinations, despite the eerie tune that now haunted her, she wanted to stay.

"Okay.. okay." Henry shut his eyes. "We'll get a pizza to go, okay? You'll have time to watch them while it's cooking."

I'm going to come back. Charlie vowed internally, I'm going to come back and figure out what you're hiding from me. As they stepped out of the backroom, Henry shut the door firmly only to have it swing open part way despite his efforts.

"Needs a new lock, I guess." He said miserably, "It's not good that it won't lock."

"Why?"

No response. Henry strode purposefully down the hallway, glancing behind him to make sure she didn't linger. The animatronics used to walk around- Charlie remembered that vividly. The door needed to be locked so that they wouldn't wander. But why? She found herself getting progressively angrier. Her massive headache certainly didn't help. As they walked back into the main party area, all of the Toy Animatronics, with the exception of Toy Foxy, were back on their stage.

"Looks like there's a free table over there." Henry gestured to an empty table that was furthest away from the stage. Charlie's agitation grew but she was feeling too sick to fight him anymore. "I'll put in the order. Pepperoni and sausage?"

She nodded absentmindedly and sat down at the table. The animatronics were now singing some Freddy's-style variation of "Happy Birthday"- Bonnie strummed his guitar, Chica waved around, and Freddy swiveled about. Charlie smiled at the kids gathering around them, some trying to hand the characters pizza or tokens. She could feel her father's watchful gaze even when she looked away from the ordering counter. Just as Chica started bantering again, she heard it- the music box. But this time it was very real. A lanky puppet animatronic, of which Charlie had very faint recollections of, was hanging out of a large white box by the prize counter.

Why was it suddenly making her so uncomfortable and scared?

"Excuse me… Charlie, right?" She looked up to see Greg standing next to her, a large manila folder in one of his big hands.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind moving over to one of those tables? I'm interviewing this gentleman over here." He gestured to the young man standing behind him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Charlie...?" The interviewee said her name like a question, although he didn't appear to be speaking to her.

"Fritz, she's my technician's daughter." Greg explained, oblivious to the fact that the guy clearly knew her.

"Yeah." Charlie said dumbly, standing up. "Sorry." Nothing about Fritz was familiar to her, but clearly he recognized her. Had they gone to high school together? He was tall and somewhat muscular, with medium-length brown hair that curled around his ears. His blue eyes stared right through her.

"Pizza's gonna be ready in about five minutes, Charlie." Henry was suddenly beside her, a large smile plastered on his face. She couldn't tell if it was fake or genuine for once- normally she could read his expressions like a book. "You got an interview, Greg?"

"Yup. This is Fritz. He's looking to replace our current guy on the night shift 'cause he's moving to the dayshift in a day or two. Fritz, this is Henry, my technician."

"Stand-in technician, really. But nice to meet you." Henry extended his hand and Fritz took it reluctantly, still observing Charlie out of the corner of his eye.

"About that. We'll chat later, Henry." Greg's voice was laced with desperation.

Good, Charlie thought, keep him coming here.

"You have my landline and my phone number." Now Henry's smile was completely and utterly fake.

"Anyhow, Fritz and I are gonna sit here-"

"Of course. Come on, Charlie, let's get out of their way."

"Yeah. See you, Greg." She gave a small wave and followed her silently seething father to the to-go window. He didn't speak again until they were back in his green Dodge Stratus.

"I don't care what Greg thinks. I'm not taking responsibility for these things anymore."

"Why?"

"Charlotte, please." Henry sped out of the parking lot. Charlie picked at some stray cheese that was dangling out of the white pizza box in her lap.

"You're the only one who knows-"

"Charlotte, I'm done talking about it. I need to focus on Junior's and you now. Mr. Hippo needs a new jaw, I need to hire more waiters, we need to get you a new car…" He went on but she tuned him out and reread her last texts from John. He was visiting for the weekend with the promise that she could stay at his house. Not that her father knew that was the plan yet. He'd be reluctant, but John would convince him.

"Charlotte?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you hear me? There's no reason for me-or you-to go back there."

"Yeah." Charlie could no longer hide the exasperation in her voice.

"I'm serious. It's a lost cause and I have no interest in being a part of it anymore."

"Yeah," She acknowledged again, "I understand." She slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned to stare out the window. She vowed once again to go back, with or without him.


	7. Chapter 7: Silhouette of a Woman

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's self-harm in this chapter. It's unintentional but it's self-harm. Please be aware.

* * *

Charlie both pondered and loathed the two small blue pills in her hand. Her boyfriend was arriving early the next morning to prolong their time together- if she took the pills, she'd be disoriented and cranky. If she didn't, she'd be disoriented and paranoid. At least, she assumed that would be the effect. She hadn't been without them since before she'd started taking them. She put the pills back in the bottle and strode defiantly back to her room, closing her door but not locking it. If she did, her father would pound on it until she got up.

Much to her surprise, her eyes grew heavy after just a few minutes of lying down. She pulled the quilt around her body, excitement for the next day building in her mind. Despite the lack of medication, she fell into a deep sleep, only waking up when she felt her father shaking her.

"Charlotte?"

"Mmmf." She acknowledged, looking up at him with glazed eyes.

Henry stroked her forehead with his thumb and then left as quickly as he'd arrived. It took her a few minutes to relax again, but she fell into another dreamless state. She wasn't sure how long she'd slept when she woke up next- her digital clock was flashing 2:01 repeatedly. Rain was falling roughly against her window and thunder shook the house's foundation- storms like this were common in Hurricane and had inevitably knocked the power out. Thinking nothing of it, she rolled over just as the door creaked open.

"Yup." She said automatically. There was no response, only soft footsteps. He was probably going to shine his mini flashlight to verify that she was indeed conscious. Charlie braced herself for the light that never came. Instead, she opened her eyes to the darkened outline of her father. At least, she assumed it was her father.

"Dad, it's okay-" She picked up her cellphone and flipped it open. The backlight didn't reveal Henry- it revealed something far more sinister. It was a yellow animatronic with a gaping jaw and a torn chest cavity. Whatever it was, it recoiled when struck by light. She heard the haunting melody of the music box yet again, and with a flash of lightning the creature was gone. Charlie didn't realize she was hyperventilating until her chest started to hurt. Kicking the covers off, she made a beeline to the bathroom, her phone's screen serving as light.

She fumbled through the medicine cabinet fruitlessly, her shaking hands knocking down everything she touched. She found the bottle at last but only succeeded in spilling its contents all over the tiled floor. Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye- _It's me._ The words were scribbled all over the walls in an ink-like substance, fluctuating between a large font and a small one. The hallway window shattered-she heard it and felt the rush of wind and rain fill the house. There was the terrible sound of howling wind, and then skittering sounds. Pieces of paper were covering every square inch of the hallway and bathroom floor, caught in a vicious updraft. Charlie closed her eyes and stumbled into the hallway and pressed her face against the cool, smooth surface of the wall, hoping it would turn into her pillow.

The papers began slicing at her flesh, leaving microscopic cuts and stinging her. She remained pinned against the wall but opened her eyes, shielding them with her forearm. She became aware of the silhouette of a woman looming by the window, her features blurred and skin chalk white. Somehow, her first instinct was to walk towards the woman. The papers swarmed her as she pushed forward towards the window.

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" In the blink of an eye, the hallway brightened and Charlie was standing with her hands gripping the windowpane. She whirled around to see her father, frantic but tentatively walking towards her. She could feel a cool breeze licking her face- the window wasn't smashed but was wide open. The papers were nowhere in sight. After steadying her and pulling her away from it, Henry slammed it shut. Charlie covered her ears, her pounding headache returning.

"Jesus, you were sleepwalking…" Her father turned to her. "Are you-" He frowned. She winced when he touched her face- and then looked down at her blood-covered fingernails. Henry opened his mouth but closed it again as they both put two and two together.

"Charlotte…"

She threw herself into his arms a blubbering mess, and he was quick to embrace her and stroke her hair as he'd done when she was a child and needed comfort.

"Come on… let's get you back to bed." He guided her back down the hallway and into her room, where she immediately buried herself in her sheets. "Stay put. I'm going to clean those…"

Charlie stared at Theodore on his chair through glazed, blurry eyes. She wanted to grab him but her body refused to move.

"Hey, come on, sweetie." Henry gently coaxed the covers off of his daughter and gently tended to a cut with an iodine-soaked cotton ball. "Do you remember doing this?"

"No." Charlie choked. "I was having a nightmare- I mean, I saw…" She trailed off.

"You saw what?" Henry paused to soak another cotton ball.

"I don't remember." She lied. She had to tread carefully- if she said the wrong thing she'd inevitably end up in the hospital, this time in the psych ward. The initial shock wore off and the cuts started stinging relentlessly. Henry sighed and picked up one of her bloodied hands.

"...I should take you in."

"No!" Charlie screeched, startling both of them. A heavy silence filled the room. "...I mean, no. John's coming and I can't be in the hospital."

"Charlotte, you're not safe." Henry stood up. "We have to find out what happened here."

"I had a nightm-"

"Charlotte-!"

"I didn't take my pills, okay? They make me sleepy and I wanted to be awake for John."

"Charlotte," Henry pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't do that. You have to take them."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Charlie resumed her position under her covers. She could feel her father's gaze drilling into the back of her head before he sighed deeply and stood up.

"I'm going to have to watch you take them now. I hope you understand that."

She didn't reply and curled up into the fetal position. She heard him rocking on his heels for a minute before he continued.

"And you're taking them right now."

She sobbed as he made his way to the bathroom- she wasn't sure if the mess she'd made was real or not- but given how long it took him to return, it was most definitely real.

"Charlotte." She heard the soft clank of a glass being set on her bedside table. With a loud sigh, she sat up and yanked the offending pills out of her father's hand before washing them down.

"Now I'll sleep until 4 in the afternoon."

Henry ignored her and made his way to the door.

"Goodnight, Charlotte. I love you."

"Goodnight." Charlie said in a whisper, anger surging through her. Before the pills could take a hold of her, she pulled Theodore off of his chair and hugged him against her. Even when she was mad at her father, the stuffed rabbit he'd created for her was a source of comfort.

* * *

Charlie woke up to a gentle tug on her hair. A smile stretched across her face and she rolled over to see her longtime boyfriend.

"Hey, sleeping beauty." He said softly. She threw her arms around him, taking in the scent of his cologne and savoring the feeling of his weight against her.

"What time is it?" She inquired, her voice muffled by his red dress shirt.

"About 2 o'clock."

Charlie pulled away immediately.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't hear my alarm go off!" She sat up.

"Hey, it's okay. Your dad said that you had a nightmare last night."

"...Did he tell you anything else?"

John's smile turned into a frown as he reached forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"About… my face?" She whispered. He shook his head.

"What happened?"

Charlie sighed and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I don't know what happened. I was dreaming about papers blowing in my face and cutting me, but I guess I scratched myself." Tears pricked her eyes.

"Hey." John sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's a common thing to have nightmares after trauma… I'd say your accident was pretty traumatic." A rainy night suddenly flashed into her mind, along with a car and two dark figures. _The accident._

"It wasn't a car crash."

"What?"

Charlie squinted.

"That night. I don't remember getting in my car. Something happened. I-" There was a knock on the door.

"Come in…" Charlie said, albeit reluctantly. Henry walked in, bearing a cup of orange juice and a piece of toast on a plate.

"See? You didn't sleep until 4." He smiled and set the food on her bedside table. She gave him a look as she picked up the toast and took a bite.

"My pills make me _really_ sleepy even during the day." She explained to John, who nodded in understanding.

"I'm heading to Junior's to fix Mr. Hippo's jaw and conduct a few interviews. Did you kids want to come with?"

Charlie nodded automatically and then turned to John for approval. He shrugged.

"No plans yet, but Lamarr wants to hang out tonight."

"Okay. You eat and get dressed. I'll be waiting in the living room." Henry left with a small smile and John looked at her quizzically once the door closed.

"You _want_ to go to Junior's? That's a first."

"Dad's fixing Mr. Hippo, and I want to prove to him that I can do it too." She took a big bite of toast. "Besides, I want to try and beat the Fruity Maze."

"Hope you have a million quarters. We always run out of time."

"It's just a matter of getting the right power ups at the right time." Charlie shrugged.

"That's what Lamarr says, and you've seen how well that works out for him."

"Well, I'm going to get dressed, and my dad's going to have coronary if you're in here." She smiled, quickly finishing off the toast.

"You're saying he doesn't suspect that we-"

"Nope. And it's staying that way."

"Wow, he's slow."

She pushed him with a smile.

"Out."

* * *

They arrived at Junior's a half-hour later, and Charlie watched in excitement as her father polished off Mr. Hippo's new lower jaw in the backstage area.

"Close the curtains on his stage. We don't want to traumatize the kids."

"On it." Charlie jogged back onto the main floor. John looked up at her from one of the tables, raising his plastic soda cup in a toast. She stuck her tongue out at him and stepped onto the stage with Mr. Hippo, who was already switched off. She drew the curtains and removed the "Out of Order" sign from the side table drawer beside him. Unlike the wooden bench that was just a prop, the side table was functional. As Charlie stepped off the stage and went to rejoin her father, she became aware of a teen by the main show stage, where Happy Frog, Orville, and Pigpatch were idle. The girl was the only one watching them- the kids in the one birthday party they had lost interest and were running around the arcade.

The girl was sporting blond pigtails and wore a tight black tank top that was tucked into the knee-length red tutu she wore. She had a camera- Charlie became aware of that when the flash filled the main show area. She was instantly hit with a sense of dread, although she didn't know why. As she approached the girl, she felt somebody watching her out of the corner of her eye. _Fritz._


	8. Chapter 8: Shocked

Chapter 8: Shocked 

Charlie wasn't sure who to approach first- Fritz, who was watching her intently, or the oblivious teen girl by the stage. It was possible that she was a part of her younger sibling's party and taking pictures, so she chose the latter. Fritz was leaning against the prize counter, looking He gave her a small smile as she approached, but she remained stoic, crossing her arms in a similar fashion.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. I need to speak with your father- erm, Mr. Emily."

Charlie squinted, noticing his British Accent for the first time. He was still clad in the Freddy's security uniform: a purple button down shirt with black slacks. The only thing missing was the black hat.

"...Why?"

"You see that girl over there?" The security guard gestured to the teen girl, who was now taking closeups of Orville.

"What about her?"

"She works for someone who's in the business. A competitor of sorts." Fritz picked up a tangled slinky from the prize demo box and examined it.

"First off, my dad is busy. Second of all, you can't-"

"I can wait." Fritz said nonchalantly, tugging at two tangled rings on the slinky. Charlie glanced at John, who was watching and listening intently.

"...You can't be here."

"Why? Because I work at Freddy's? It's your father's franchise, isn't it?"

She laughed lightly and with exasperation.

"Are you serious?"

"Very." Fritz managed to untangle the slinky and carefully placed it back in the box. "He's the only one who knows about those robots. Their… glitches."

"Glitches?"

"You didn't notice the stuttering and that weird lock-up thing they do when an adult gets close?"

"Those aren't glitches. Not the lock-up thing, anyway. They have facial recognition."

Fritz raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. These guys have it too. If they register someone suspicious, they freeze."

"So _every_ adult is suspicious? Why?"

Charlie had to shake her head to get her train of thought moving again.

"You're imagining things."

"I'm imagining _that?"_ Fritz looked to the stage. Charlie turned and froze. All three of the Mediocre Melodies were staring in their direction. The girl in the tutu was staring, too. Her green eyes were large and staring into Charlie's very being. She recoiled and the girl smirked, slipping her pink camera into her pocket before walking towards the duo. At this point John stood up, approaching them at an even more fervent pace. Then the restaurant went dark. The lights fizzled out and there was a loud buzzing sound- it sounded like a million angry bees.

The kids attending the birthday party screamed along with the girl as she fell to the floor, clutching her chest. Charlie almost didn't realize that she'd fallen as well- it felt like she'd been hit in the head with a board. The lights flickered back on within a few seconds and Henry raced out of the backroom, wrench in hand.

"Hey… hey!" John was by Charlie's side immediately, slinging her arm around his shoulders. She could see her father through the haze of pain, staring at the girl. He did nothing to help, looking plaintive but stoic. Once Charlie had steadied herself, she looked to Fritz- at least, she looked to where he'd once stood. He was gone. Henry slipped his wrench into his back pocket before rushing to Charlie.

"I've got Charlie. Help _her_." John said urgently, gesturing to the struggling young woman in front of him. His words fell on deaf ears- Henry remained fixated on his daughter. In the midst of all the chaos, the Mediocre Melodies burst into song- Charlie had never seen them perform with such vigor and energy. A parent from the birthday party rushed over to assist the other fallen girl, but she held up her hand. She stumbled forward as she stood up, looking pale and frazzled.

"Are you okay?" John inquired after helping an equally dazed Charlie onto a chair.

"Fine." The girl's voice was shrill and frantic, but her expression was mask-like.

"Just a little power outage." Henry called over to the birthday partygoers, "Everything's on me today, I'll comp everything."

Charlie buried her face in her hands, her head throbbing and flashes of light exploding in front of her eyes. Despite her pain, she was energized- it felt as though she'd had several shots of espresso. When she opened her eyes, the girl was running for the door, her blond pigtails bouncing. _What the hell was that?_ Charlie rubbed her eyes and watched as she retreated, stumbling every few steps. Then, everything faded to black.

* * *

 _She was sitting on the black and white tiled floor, crayons and paper sprawled around her. Theodore was slumped against the nearby wall, facing the stage. Charlie heard the whirring of animatronic parts and glanced up at the yellow bear and rabbit that stood there. No show yet; they were simply flexing their endoskeletons in order to keep from freezing up. She went back to her drawing, which happened to be of the pair. The diner was crowded, with kids constantly running from one end to the other._

" _Charlie?"_

 _The girl looked up to see a blond woman wearing a floral dress. A small, tearful little boy stood behind her, clutching a plush that resembled the golden bear onstage._

" _This is …."_

 _Charlie didn't catch the boy's name- there was a loud bang somewhere in the kitchen._

" _...He wants to color with you."_

 _She nodded with a smile and scooted over. The boy reluctantly sat down next to her, still clutching his bear to his chest. Satisfied with the girl's acceptance of the other child, she smiled and left._

" _Hi." Charlie gathered some of the crayons on a blank sheet of paper and gingerly pushed it towards the other child._

" _..Hi." He looked down at her drawing. "..It's Fredbear."_

" _Yeah! I'm drawing springy Bonnie, too!" She pulled Theodore over by his purple foot. "My daddy made me this one. But he's purple."_

" _I like him."_

 _She managed to get a smile out of the boy, who set his own toy down by the paper she'd given him. The two sat in silence, scribbling away._

" _...They're kind of scary." The boy said out of the blue. Charlie nodded in understanding. She'd seen the robots without their fabric suits on many times, but the endoskeletons never failed to give her nightmares in some form. "...Mommy says I can't watch the TV show anymore because it scares me. The one with the chicken, the fox, the bear, and the bunny."_

 _This revelation gave Charlie pause- the_ Fred Bear and Friends _show broadcasted on the local access network couldn't be more cutesy. A local animator had jumped at the opportunity to work with her father. He had ideas for all new robots- he was always excitedly talking to her about them. Their prototypes were sitting in the garage already._

" _Sometimes I have dreams that they-" the boy started._

" _Yoink!"_

 _Charlie looked up to see an older boy holding Theodore by one of his fabric arms._

" _Hey! That's mine!" She immediately stood up as the boy cowered, grabbing his Freddy plush._

" _Yeah, that's hers!" Another boy mimicked, forcefully removing the Freddy plush from the other child. The first boy had a frizzy blond mullet, while the other had medium-length brown hair that curled around his ears. They both had character masks that resembled her father's future show cast on the back of their heads. Charlie leaped for Theodore, but his captor simply raised him higher._

" _Stop!" Tears pricked her brown eyes._

" _Yeah, stop! She's gonna cry!" The brown-haired boy quipped, "Just like …." Spring Bonnie and Freddy began to sing, drowning out Charlie's protests and the other boy's sobs. She made eye contact with him just as the two animatronics reached the chorus of their special birthday song…_

* * *

"Charlie. Charlie!"

Charlie's eyes fluttered open at the sound of her name, which was being spoken urgently. John was hovering over her, his brown eyes full of fear and worry.

"She's okay. It's okay." Her father said calmly. It took Charlie a minute to register her surroundings- she was in the back room, laying on the tiled floor with a bundle of fabric supporting her head. "Get her some water." Henry demanded of John, who nodded and headed back onto the floor, albeit reluctantly.

"Does your head hurt?" Her father asked softly, stroking her forehead.

"Yeah." She said miserably, covering her eyes with her forearm. She heard John return with the water a few seconds later.

"Hey… can you drink this for me?" He said gently, coaxing her to sit up. Charlie instantly winced in pain, pressing her hand to her forehead. Headaches were now commonplace for her but the pain never faded, not even after several weeks of recovery. John guided the plastic cup to her lips and she relaxed as the cool liquid filled her mouth. "...How bad is it?" He inquired in a whisper. Charlie exhaled.

"Not any worse than before." She made sure to make eye contact with her father. He was clearly unconvinced, glancing down at the floor.

"What… what was that?" She whispered, "That… buzzing? The lights?"

"A power surge." Henry looked down and chewed on his bottom lip.

"Yeah, but…" She saw the girl collapsing and seizing on the floor. _It hurt her._

"...I have to stay and tie up some loose ends, but you need to rest." Henry smiled and turned to John. "I trust that you can take care of her?"

"Always." Her boyfriend smiled back. "We can have a movie night if you're up for it, Charlie. I'll just tell Lamarr to meet us at my place instead of the bowling alley."

Charlie nodded and took the cup from him.

"That would be great. I'll just sleep over."

"Okay...just make sure you stop by the house, Charlie. You need your pills." Her father reminded her with a small smile.

Charlie was pleasantly surprised that he didn't object to her staying with John; granted, she was 19, almost 20.

"We can go whenever you're feeling better." John said, playing with a strand of her brown hair.

"We can go now." She smiled and reached for his hand. He was quick to help her up, entwining their fingers.

"Just please…" Henry crossed his arms. "Please call me if you're not feeling well."

"I will." Charlie hugged him. "I promise."

As she and John walked out of the restaurant, she turned to look at the Mediocre Melodies one last time. They were still performing with vigor.

"...You sure you're okay?" John squeezed her hand.

"The power surged, but…"

"But what?" They stepped out into the parking lot. It was cloudy and cool- they rushed to his grey sedan.

"That noise…" She remembered it from somewhere, like she did the melody of the music box.

"Yeah.. that was pretty loud." John opened the passenger side door and made sure she was situated before going to the driver's side.

"It wasn't just loud. I've heard it before." She gazed at him as he backed out of the parking lot.

"Where?"

"I don't know…" She turned to stare out the window. She remembered Fredbear's Diner- had she hallucinated it while she was out? She was remembering details she hadn't thought of in years, but she still couldn't place the sound.

"Instead of a movie night… we should still go out."

"You sure?" John pulled up to a stoplight and looked at her skeptically. Charlie nodded slowly.

"...Where to?"

"...Fredbear's."

The car lurched forward as John slammed on the brakes. The light was green, but he stopped just as quickly as he'd accelerated. The car behind them honked and he sped forward, only to pull over seconds later.

"You saw the security system last time. There are literal trip wires all over."

"Then we go to Freddy and Friend's. The old robots are all there."

"What?"

"I saw them the last time my father had a maintenance call. They weren't scrapped."

"The ones from the diner? Fredbear and Spring Bonnie?"

"No. Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Freddy. The original models that came after Fredbear and Spring Bonnie."

"You said they were scrapped." John's brown eyes were wide.

"I _thought_ they were. My dad lied and then claimed they were there due to a botched retrofitting attempt." Anger rose up in Charlie again. "He was there last time to fix some kind of "docking issue" with the Toy robots. I think that means they wander at night."

"...That's...creepy…"

"I think the old models might, too. My dad literally _yanked_ me away from Chica when I was close to her."

John tapped the steering wheel a few times with his thumbs, his mouth twisting in thought.

"Okay. We all go to Freddy and Friend's."

"And find a place to hide so we can stay there past close. I need to see these docking problems for myself."

"What, think you can fix them?" John jibed. She shot him a look. "...That was mean. Sorry."

Charlie pulled out her phone.

"I'll call everybody."

 _ **A/N: Thanks so much for the support on this story! I truly appreciate it! As always, constructive feedback is very welcome too!**_


	9. Chapter 9:Errors Until Dawn

"Why are we doing this instead of bowling again?" Jessica crossed her arms as she got out of John's car.

"Charlie's feeling nostalgic again." John said simply, "Besides, there are arcade games here."

"Yeah, _rigged_ arcade games." Carlton smirked. John walked in front of the group.

"Charlie and I will get a table- you guys wait for Marla and Lamarr."

"Alright. Make sure you get the deluxe party package." Carlton smirked, "It comes with 200 tokens."

"I thought you said the games were rigged." Charlie giggled.

"Yeah, but they're still fun. I think."

She shook her head and grabbed John's hand as he walked into the restaurant. There were only two tables of kids, and they were in the main showroom. It was about an hour and a half before close, and the acne-ridden teenage boy at the host stand gave John and Charlie a surly look as they approached.

"Hi. Party of six, please… the deluxe party package?"

"We don't do party packages after 8 unless you have a reservation." The boy said flatly before sipping some soda from a Freddy's cup.

"Okay… can we just get a table and some tokens then?"

"Sorry, we don't take walk-ins after-"

"Whoa! Wait a sec!" Greg rushed over. "Charlie? What brings you here?"

"Oh, uh… it's… uh…" She stammered, "I just…"

"It's her birthday." John said quickly.

"Aren't you a little old to be celebrating here?" The teen beside him raised an eyebrow and smirked. Greg pushed him aside.

"Nonsense! Freddy's is for ALL ages. Besides, you're still a part of the Fazbear Family."

Charlie and John laughed lightly and exchanged glances.

"One deluxe party package, comin' right up! Did you have a particular animatronic in mind?"

"What?" John raised an eyebrow and Greg laughed.

"Every deluxe party package comes with an animatronic. They'll perform exclusively for your party!"

"Bonnie." Charlie said immediately, "Toy Bonnie."

"Ah! Great choice!" Greg turned to the flustered teenager beside him. "Take 'em to party room 1, Phil."

Phil sighed and picked up two large plastic cups of Fazcoins from behind the host station.

"Right this way." He led the couple through the main dining room and into one of the smaller party rooms. "Here it is. Plates, cups, and napkins are right there, each member of your party can take a plastic figurine home, and your waitress will be with you shortly to take your pizza order. Happy birthday and have a Faz-tastic time!" He set the plastic cups down on top of the menus in the middle of the table.

"Thank you." John tried and failed to hold back a laugh. Phil gave him an annoyed glare before turning and heading out of the room.

"That was… something." Charlie commented, pulling out a metal folding chair.

"Wait a sec." John picked up a foil party hat and placed it on her head, ensuring the elastic chin strap didn't snap against her skin. " _Now_ you're the birthday girl."

"Why is it _my_ birthday? Yours is in two weeks."

"I couldn't think of anything!" John sat down next to her and unfolded a torn menu.

"Damn, it's your birthday? I woulda brought you something!" Marla chirped from the archway. Lamarr, Jessica, and Carlton were in tow behind her.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Lamarr sat down and put on a hat of his own. "We _all_ used to have our parties at Freddy's."

"Perks of knowing the owner's daughter." Jessica giggled, "I remember that all the kids in our class would be extra nice to Charlie whenever their birthdays were coming up."

Charlie was laughing genuinely for the first time in weeks, and it felt great.

"Hi, I'm Kayla. I'll be your server tonight." A perky, blond waitress entered the room, bearing a serving tray loaded down with six waters. "Our specials tonight are Foxy's Triple Pepperoni Pizza and Chica's Cupcake Mocktail. Otherwise all of our appetizers are half off. Can I start you off with some cheese bread?"

"We'll take all of the above." John smiled.

"Yeah, and can we get a pitcher of that mocktail?" Carlton interjected.

"Okay! I will put that in for you right away. You're free to head on over to the arcade, but your animatronic performer will also be here shortly." Kayla chirped. Charlie watched as she practically pranced out of the room, wondering how much Greg was paying her.

"I gotta get her number." Carlton commented once she'd left.

"Dude, jailbait." Lamarr smirked, "I think she was a freshman when we were all seniors."

"I'm gonna head to the arcade. Anybody else?" Jessica picked up one of the heavy token cups.

"Wait. Before anyone goes anywhere, we need a plan." Charlie reminded her friends. John nodded.

"Everyone sit down- we have to be quiet about this."

"Oh, that's right. We're spending the night inside germy playground equipment." Marla winced. "That's the only viable hiding place _I_ see."

"There's the ballpit." Carlton sat down and leaned forward. "Some of us could bury ourselves."

"No… it's too shallow. I remember." Charlie shook her head.

"These tablecloths are pretty long." Jessica noted, " We could sneak into one of the other party rooms once we're done here. They might change this one at the end of the night."

"That's good, but at least one of us is going to have to be a scapegoat. If none of us leave after paying the bill, they'll be onto us." John pointed out.

"Lamarr and I will pay the bill and leave." Marla volunteered, "Then y'all can let us back in once the door is locked."

"Go around back so that we don't trip the security system out front." Charlie added.

"Great! We have a plan! Game time!" Carlton picked up a cup of tokens. "Come on, Jessica!"

"Wait!" Charlie held up her hand. "The nightguard. We all have to make sure we're hidden before he gets here. He usually arrives around 11:45, if things are still the same way I remember them."

"Okay. We eat, play games, watch the show… and then at 9:55 Lamarr and Marla will take care of the bill. Charlie and I will go into one of the other party rooms, and Carlton and Jessica will stow away in the playground tunnels. Then, at about 11, give or take, Charlie will let Lamarr and Marla back in. Got it?" John whispered. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Okay. _Now_ it's game time!"

Before anyone could move, there was the metallic clanking of animatronic footsteps out in the hallway. Toy Bonnie arrived, red guitar in hand.

"It's t-time to rock!" His boisterous animatronic voice echoed throughout the whole restaurant.

"Yeaahhh, I'm gonna go." Jessica ducked out of the room, Carlton following closely behind her. A large smile stretched across Charlie's face.

"Hi, Bonnie."

The blue rabbit immediately looked in her direction as Marla and Lamarr took their seats. He just stood there a second before focusing in on her.

"H-hello! It's a wonderful n-night here at Freddy and F-F-Friends!" So far, so good. He hadn't frozen up. Fritz had been out of his mind. "I-I have a very special song j-just for you!" The four young adults sniggered as the rabbit burst into a surprisingly stutter-free birthday song.

"Thank you, Bonnie." Charlie giggled when it was over.

"High f-five!" The animatronic held up his motorized paw. John obliged, and Bonnie froze.

"Uh… high five?" John hit his paw again. Marla burst into laughter.

"Guess he doesn't like _you_."

Lamarr struck the rabbit's paw this time. No response.

"He's frozen."

Charlie tried- still nothing.

"Alllriigghhht, I have your apps and drinks right here…." Kayla sang as she reentered the party room, bearing a blue plate and a clear pitcher filled with fizzy pink liquid. "Oh, is he frozen again?" She set the food down and moved to flip the switch situated behind one of the blue rabbit's ears.

"Stop!" Charlie exclaimed. Kayla froze and looked at her quizzically.

"What? I'm resetting him."

"That's not the reset switch. That's the roaming switch. The reset switch is underneath his mask. On the endoskeleton."

"..Greg told me to flip this switch." It was no wonder that the animatronics were in constant need of repairs- Greg was having his staff hit random buttons. Charlie stood up.

"Well, he's wrong. Triggering the roaming switch when they're frozen only puts them into night mode. It sends them back to the docking location."

"What? No it doesn't." _Docking issues._

"...Don't hit that switch."

Kayla lowered her hand and Charlie sat back down.

"...Give him a minute or two. He'll-"

"Welcome to Freddy and Friends'!" Bonnie chortled a few seconds later. Charlie smiled knowingly at the other girl, and was relieved to see her smile back.

"Can you let Greg know so that you and the other staff aren't pressing random buttons anymore? They'll break and glitch a lot less if their roaming switches aren't triggered all the time."

"Can do. I'll be back with your pizza soon." The waitress turned and walked out of the room.

"Wow, Einstein. Pretty impressive." Lamarr patted her on the back. Charlie shrugged and poured herself a glass of the mocktail.

"I remember my dad working on these guys. I couldn't fix them myself, mainly because he won't let me, but I know the basic logistics." She explained as Bonnie wandered out of the room, picking up on the childrens' laughter in the main showroom. "Like that, right there. They walk towards noise and laughter."

"I'm not sure if that's creepy or cool." John remarked, taking a piece of cheese bread.

"It's going to be a little creepy tonight- they're not docking properly. They'll be wandering and attracted to any sound we make."

"...Docking?" Marla questioned.

"They should be going to their stage at night and staying there. That's how my dad designed them. The ones over at Freddy Fazbear's still wander at night, but they're older and need to otherwise their servos will lock up."

"Yeah, those games are rigged." Jessica remarked as she and Carlton returned, each holding a small handful of tickets. "Our first token cup is half empty and this is all we won."

"The prizes aren't that great anyway- there's the grand prize that the puppet thing holds in that package, but everything else is lame." Carlton added.

"What _is_ the grand prize?" John wondered aloud. The four teens turned to Charlie for their answer.

"Oh, it's an old Freddy Plush- a golden one. One of the originals from the diner. It's 5,000 tickets so nobody has won it. I think."

"That's… actually pretty cool." Jessica admitted.

"Not really. I have one just like it somewhere. A golden Bonnie plush, too." Charlie said nonchalantly. "I mean, I guess they're rare now, but I don't know who would actually want them. Anyway…" She pushed the cheese bread to the center of the confetti-covered table cloth. "We better eat now- we'll be here all night."

* * *

"Why did we have to hide in _here?"_ John whispered to Charlie, "That noise is driving me crazy." He gestured to the pink and white Fox Animatronic on the floor a few feet away. It was emitting an awful static sound that sounded like a broken modem.

"This room was the first one they cleaned. Besides, Toy Foxy is the only animatronic that can't move."

"What makes you think that?"

"Look at it. The kids just tear it apart over and over again- it _can't_ move."

"But-"

John clapped his hand over his mouth as an employee- most likely Greg, walked into the room to look it over. The only thing Charlie could see was black shoes and slacks.

"They sure did a number on ya today, Foxy." It was Greg alright- she'd recognize that baritone voice anywhere. Charlie winced as he kicked the robot, producing a metallic clanging sound. "We gotta fix that voicebox, too. Better call Henry." John and Charlie exchanged panicked glances- if her father found out that she was here, it was all over. She hadn't planned for _that._

 _Fuck._ She mouthed to John, who cringed.

"Hi, Henry. It's Greg. I was wondering if you could swing by tomorrow and fix Foxy's voice box- parents have been complaining about the static. Give me a call when you get this. Bye."

Charlie exhaled as the rotund man exited the room and clicked his flip phone shut.

"That. Was close." She whispered, "Hopefully he keeps ignoring his calls." John nodded in agreement. "What time is it?"

He looked at his watch.

"Almost 11. One he leaves we should be good- somebody already mopped the floors. In the meantime…" He planted a kiss on her jawline. She captured his lips immediately and leaned against the stand that held up the table. The lights were switched off just as things were getting heated, but the couple barely noticed.

"Wait… Marla and Lamarr." She panted as he peppered her neck with kisses.

"Damn, that's right. Carlton and Jessica are still up in the playground tunnels waiting for our cue."

Charlie poked her head out from under the table.

"All clear." She crawled out from her hiding spot and helped him stand up. Toy Foxy's one good eye followed their every movement. "God, that is _creepy_."

"You're absolutely sure it can't move?" John said tentatively.

"Positive. Now let's go." Charlie confidently stepped into the darkened corridor- at first. "Damn. I forgot the flashlight in your car."

"Just use your phone. We'll figure it out when we let Marla and Lamarr in."

The couple wandered to the main show area, Charlie shining her backlight onto the tiled floor. The three main animatronics were onstage and idle- for now.

"Okay. They shouldn't move as long as we're quiet." She reminded her boyfriend, "Slow and steady."

"I'll find Jessica and Carlton. You head to the back." He whispered. Charlie nodded. "Be careful around Balloon Boy. He might start laughing if you walk past him."

"Got it." They parted ways. Charlie swallowed hard as she passed the prize counter with the eerie music box- the puppet was inside for the night, at least. When she walked into the kitchen, the automatic lights flickered on. She jumped and glanced around, praying that management still hadn't installed a camera. She recalled that it was next to impossible to see people- or robots- on the security cameras at night unless the built-in flashlights affixed to the top of them were activated. There didn't appear to be such a security camera anywhere in the kitchen. After catching her breath, Charlie walked over to the heavy door that led into the alleyway, where Lamarr and Marla practically leapt out of the darkness.

"We thought you'd forgotten about-"

"Shh! The robots are sound activated, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Marla put a finger to her lips. "What's the plan?"

"Basically we all camp out somewhere where we can watch them and not be spotted by the nightguard."

"Can we at least play the arcade games while we wait?" Lamarr inquired.

"No! They make noise." Marla reminded him, "Play Snake on your phone or something."

"Come on." Charlie whispered, "John's finding Carlton and Jessica right n-"

"Hey! You kids!" The three jumped and Carlton smirked. "Heh. Gotcha."

"Carlton! Come on, man!" Lamarr hissed.

"We can't screw around- we have to find a place to-" They froze at the sound of the sliding doors opening up front.

"Everyone stay. Here." Charlie said urgently, walking to the doorway of the kitchen. Her breath hitched in her throat. Fritz had arrived for the night shift.


	10. Chapter 10: Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 10: Behind Closed Doors

Fritz paused for a few seconds before relocking the sliding glass doors he'd just entered through. He, too, walked slowly and deliberately.

"Who's that?" Jessica leaned over Charlie's shoulder.

"Who do you _think?_ " The girl hissed, "What's he doing? He's 45 minutes early!"

Fritz glanced around and then became fixated on the illuminated kitchen.

"Go back, go back!" John exclaimed, shooing the group behind him. They dove behind a large kitchen island just as Fritz stepped onto the black and white tiles.

"Hello?" His voice was laced with agitation as he scanned the room, determined to locate whatever employee was still around. "You can't be here right now. Building has to be cleared by 10:30." _He's going to find us._ Charlie swallowed and shut her eyes. _He's going to find us, he's going to call the police, they're going to call my dad…._ her thoughts raced along with her heart.

"Hello?" Everyone jumped as a childlike, boyish voice echoed through the dining room and kitchen. Fritz cursed and stalked out of the kitchen, switching the lights off. "Hi!" The voice continued.

"God dammit…"

Charlie opened her eyes as Fritz switched off the kitchen lights and disappeared into the dining room, presumably to find the animatronic culprit, which Charlie knew was Balloon Boy.

"That. Was close." Marla breathed.

"We have to find another place to hide." Charlie said calmly.

"Where? He'll see us no matter where we go!" Jessica lamanted.

"Only if he's still in the dining room." Charlie stood up and poked her head out of the kitchen door.

" _CHARLIE!"_ John hissed. She held up her hand and glanced around the dining room. Fritz was nowhere to be seen, in the shadows or otherwise.

"All clear."

Her friends just stared at her.

"Come on, we can hide under the tables by the carousel." She Insisted. Jessica slowly joined her friend and was followed by the rest of the group. "Follow me." Charlie led them to a long party table by the arcade cabinets and ducked underneath it.

"Now what?" Lamarr leaned against one of the metal table legs. Everyone turned to Charlie, who opened her mouth and closed it again. What _did_ she want to accomplish? What did she expect to find?

"They're not acting right." She said simply.

"And?" John raised an eyebrow.

"And we're going to watch them and figure out why."

"You mean we're just going to sit here?" Carlton groaned.

"Hey, you agreed to stay." John reminded him.

"Look, I just want to watch them for a little while. If nothing happens, we can go out the back door and head to John's." Charlie hissed.

"And in the meantime?" Marla yawned.

"We sit and wait." Charlie looked to the show stage, where the three toy animatronics stood motionless yet attentive. They were listening, she knew. Listening for the laughter and playful screams of children. But there was only the sound of Fritz's footsteps as he paced the dining room. Carlton took out his phone and started playing a game of Snake. Marla and Lamarr looked over his shoulder. Jessica took out a pack of chewing gum and popped some in her mouth. Charlie's eyes grew heavy and she rested her head on John's shoulder.

"Hey, what happened to watching them?" He smirked and elbowed her.

"You can wake me up when they start moving."

"Wait. You didn't take your pills. What if you hallucinate?"

"...Snap me out of it. It's not that hard." She buried her face in his chest. _I hope._

* * *

" _Stop! I'll tell my daddy!" Charlie threatened, managing to get a hold of one of Theodore's legs. The boy with the mullet just laughed._

" _Oh no, I'm so scared. She's gonna tell her daddy, Mike."_

" _Oh no! Not that!" Mike smirked and leaned down. "If you wanna get your rabbit back, you aren't gonna tell anyone anything."_

 _Charlie grunted and managed to free Theodore._

" _Hey, guys, there's pizza and birthday cake." A girl wearing a yellow chicken mask walked over to the group. Mike rolled his eyes and dropped the Fredbear plush._

" _Fine. Let the BABIES have their toys. Come on…"_

 _Charlie thought she saw a hint of a sympathetic smile behind the chicken mask, but she wasn't certain. She turned to look at her new friend, who was sobbing quietly._

" _Hey…" Charlie gathered as many crayons and as much paper as she could. "I know where we can hide."_

 _The boy wiped his nose on his sleeve and looked up at her fearfully._

" _Come on." She reassured him, "Bring your bear with you."_

" _...Goldie." They boy whispered._

" _Goldie." Charlie repeated, "Bring Goldie with you."_

 _There was a hint of a smile from her friend as she led him away from the wall._

" _Charlie?" Suddenly another small boy was walking beside her. "Where are you going?" The boy had brown hair that was similar in texture and color to hers, the only difference being the short length. He had brown eyes and a round face that mirrored hers._

" _We're going to go in the closet." Charlie gestured to the meek boy cowering behind her. "Want to color with us?"_

" _Okay!"_

 _The three made their way to the large storage closet and Charlie ushered the boys inside, making sure her former tormentors weren't looking. Once she felt safe, she shut the heavy door behind her._

* * *

"Guys! Bonnie's moving!"

Charlie woke with a start to see Marla poking her head out from under the table.

"Let me see." Charlie gently pushed her friend to the side to look. Sure enough, the blue rabbit had stepped off of his stage. She crawled out from under the table and over to some nearby arcade cabinets to watch him. Her friends followed her tentatively.

"Where's he going?" Lamar whispered.

"I..I'm not sure." Charlie whispered.

" _They want to be where the people are." Henry whispered, ducking behind the bare party table. Toy Chica stood a few feet away from the party room, in docking mode. She had her back turned to the father and daughter duo._

" _Here." He handed Charlie a small kazoo. The 13-year-old looked at him skeptically. "Go on. Make some noise but don't let her see you right away."_

 _ **Phhppppttzzz!**_

 _The animatronic chicken sprang to life and turned around to face the barren party room behind her._

" _Again." Henry encouraged his daughter._

 _ **Phhppppttzzz! Phhppppttzzz!**_

 _Toy Chica wandered into the room, her beak opening and closing as she worked to register where the sound was coming from. Henry stood up and waved._

" _It's party time, Chica!"_

" _It's party time!" Chica agreed, waving Mr. Cupcake around._

Charlie had to shake her head to get her mind moving again.

"They want to be where the people are." She said softly, "They're trying to find the party."

"Okay, but we're right here. Aren't _we_ the party?" Jessica inquired.

"Shhh!" Charlie held a finger up to her friend's lips. " _Until now_ , we were being too quiet. There's a lot more noise in the security office right now. The guard is probably shuffling papers around and messing with the cameras." The two robots that remained onstage apparently hadn't heard Jessica's outburst. They remained stoic and stared straight ahead despite the light on top of the security camera activating and shining down on them.

"Should we follow Bonnie?" John asked, joining his girlfriend by the arcade cabinets.

"Not until Freddy and Chica leave- they'll see us if we try to follow him right now." Charlie replied, "It's best we stay here, out of the view of the cameras."

"You mean we have to sit here doing nothing _AGAIN?"_ Carlton griped.

Charlie shot him a look.

"...Maybe not." Jessica gestured to the show stage. Toy Chica stepped down, followed immediately by Toy Freddy.

"All right!" Marla failed to hide the excitement in her voice. Charlie was pleasantly surprised to hear it- she was sticking with her. They were _all_ sticking with her.

"Wait!" Jessica stumbled into John and he stumbled into Charlie just as the group was venturing past the arcade cabinets. "What about that one?" She gestured to Balloon Boy, who stood across from the tiny carousel nearby.

"We don't need to worry about him. He can't move." Charlie smiled. "If anything, he'll just talk all night."

"Hi!" The childlike animatronic said right on cue as the group passed him. "Hello?" His blue eyes followed them but he remained still.

"Shh." Carlton shushed him jokingly and the animatronic laughed.

"Carlton!" Charlie snapped. "Fritz will investigate if he keeps hearing that!"

"...Fritz?" John inquired as the group crawled through the dark dining room.

"...He was here a few days ago when my dad and I were here. I caught his name when he was interviewing." Charlie suddenly thought of the way Fritz had said her name during their brief encounter. " _Charlie?_ "

"Who would want _this_ job?" Marla sniggered and interrupted her train of thought.

"Someone pretty desperate." Charlie muttered before pausing. The door to the left of the stage was wide open. The room beyond it was enticing and inviting despite the darkness within. That had to be where all of the Toy Animatronics' parts were kept- she hadn't seen any in the parts and service room by the bathrooms. She was hearing that eerie music box in her head again, but this time it was echoing throughout the room.

"...Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what? That music box?" John whispered in her ear.

"Yeah!"

"...I wanna find it." Jessica breathed.

"I think it's coming from the prize counter." Carlton remarked. "Let's go."

 _The Puppet._ She'd completely forgotten about her father's most advanced creation. How had she missed it completely a few days prior? The eerie tune was never only in her head. Her encounter with her father's withered creations flashed through her memory and her head started pounding again. Unlike her friends, she wanted to stay as far away from that… that.. _thing_ as possible. She'd never liked it, not even when her father had it give a present to her on her fifth birthday. It was always so ominous-looking and sounding.

"You guys go ahead." She had her eyes set on the stage door.

"..We'll meet you over there." John told his friends, who nodded and stealthily made their way to the prize counter.

"Stay out of the camera's view!" Charlie reminded them sharply, "There's one over there!" Once they were out of sight, she gestured for her boyfriend to follow her through the darkened doorway by the stage. She flipped the light on and carefully shut the door behind them once they were inside. John stepped backwards as he caught sight of the empty plastic heads and various parts strewn across the disorganized shelves on the wall.

"Jesus. What do they _do_ to these things?"

Charlie barely heard him- she was too busy staring at the yellow rabbit in the corner. The yellow rabbit with a large metal crank beside it, the rabbit her father claimed to have destroyed years ago.


	11. Chapter 11: Tomorrow is Another Day

Chapter 11: Tomorrow is Another Day

Charlie and the rabbit stared at each other. She could see the gleam of the springlocks behind its purple eyes, which seemed to follow her as she knelt down to get a closer look.

"Isn't that…?" John took a step forward.

"Spring Bonnie." Charlie finished for him. The rabbit had seen better days- the yellow fabric that encased its animatronic endoskeleton was ripped in several places and had taken on a sickly greenish hue. Part of its right ear was missing and its cartoonish plaster teeth were partially exposed due to the decaying fabric around its mouth.

"Dad said he destroyed him. Him _and_ Fredbear." Charlie's voice shook. She and the rabbit continued to stare each other down as she reached for the large steel crank by its side. It was heavy and cold in her hand as she picked it up and examined it closely.

"Have they been using it…?" Charlie muttered mostly to herself, tilting the rabbit's head back to access the winding mechanism hidden in its neck.

"What are you doing?" John inquired, kneeling down to get a closer look.

"Unwinding the springlocks." Charlie replied nonchalantly.

"The what?"

"These suits could be worn if you cranked the animatronic parts back."

"Whoa, whoa ,whoa." John grabbed her wrist. "Bad idea."

"I'm not going to get inside it. I just want to see how it works."

"...But have you done this before?"

"...No."

Charlie's father had never let her anywhere near the mascots while he was maintaining them or helping an employee worm into one, but she had watched the process from afar many times. The springlocks whined as she started to crank them into place, and she watched in fascination as they retreated into the darkness of the suit. She cranked until there was a metallic _boing_ sound, indicating that the suit was in mascot mode.

"Hold this." She held the crank out to John, who took it reluctantly. She peeked inside, curious about the suit's inner workings. Unable to see anything, she grabbed a flashlight that was sitting on a nearby workbench.

"Charlie, come on. It's just a suit. Besides, I thought we were here to watch the _new_ animatronics." John sighed, shifting the crank's weight from hand to hand. Charlie ignored him and positioned the flashlight so the beam was shining directly on the suit's internal components.

"Oh my God-!" She stumbled backwards and John caught her, dropping the heavy crank in the process. The flashlight fell to the floor with a clatter and Charlie's hand flew to her mouth as she fought a sudden, intense wave of nausea.

"What is it?"

"...Blood."

" _What?_ "

"T-t-t-there's b-b-blood in the suit." Charlie stammered. _Don't you dare throw up._

"Like… _fresh_ blood?"

"I can't tell." She stood up after several seconds, fighting the dry heave that threatened to escape her. There were a million questions and no answers. Why is it here? Who was wearing it? Why was there blood? _God, why is there blood?_ Charlie leaned back, her hand still covering her mouth. She lightly tapped her cheek with her pointer finger as she struggled to put the pieces together. _They were disassembled._ She remembered the robotic components and limbs sprawled everywhere in her father's workshop. _Did someone rebuild it? Did_ _ **dad**_ _rebuild it?_ That second possibility had Charlie reeling- her father was seemingly determined to leave Freddy's in the past, but maybe he _couldn't._ These were his creations, after all.

Her head was starting to hurt, but it wasn't from the lack of her nightly medication, which she'd avoided taking in order to stay alert. She closed her eyes.

* * *

 _The wet grass chilled her feet as she made her way to the garage. The hypnotic whirring of tools filled her ears as she approached, dragging Theodore along behind her. She paused when she reached the weathered wooden door, which was slightly ajar. Her father was hunched over his big work table, his massive toolbox at his feet. Charlie could see Spring Bonnie's ears just above his head. She let out a gasp as they disappeared abruptly._

 _There was a loud clunk as the rabbit's large head hit the concrete floor, briefly rolling from side to side. Her father didn't notice her until she stepped into the workshop, her little mouth gaping._

" _Charlotte? What are you doing here?" He immediately set down his power saw and went over to her._

" _What are you doing to Springy Bonnie?" Charlie inquired mournfully. The mechanist kneeled down and tucked her hair behind her ears._

" _He's broken. Remember?"_

" _You said you were going to fix him." Tears filled the girl's eyes._

" _Sweetie, I can't. He's_ _**too**_ _broken. He and Fredbear have to go away, but we're going to open a new restaurant with new robots and-"_

" _No!" Charlie hugged Theodore to her chest and scowled. "I don't_ _ **want**_ _new robots. I want Springy Bonnie and Fredbear!"_

 _Her father sighed deeply and closed his eyes for several seconds._

" _...I promise to make a new bunny and a new bear. How's that?"_

 _Charlie maintained her scowl and shook her head._

" _I already have an idea for the bunny. He's going to look a bit like Theodore."_

 _Charlie relaxed and looked down at her stuffed toy._

" _...Really?"_

" _Sure! He can even be purple."_

" _You promise?"_

" _I promise."_

 _Charlie glanced at Spring Bonnie's half-closed eyes and then up at her father._

" _...Okay." She said finally._

" _Now, I've still got some work to do, but you need to get back to sleep. Come on, I'll tuck you in." Her father's callused hand closed around hers as he led her out of the workshop and onto the cold, wet grass. Spring Bonnie watched them leave, his large, purple eyes just staring._

* * *

"Charlie?" John called her back to the present, squeezing her shoulder softly. She was nauseous and on the brink of tears. _I have to get out of here._ "Charlie?"

"We have to go." She choked.

"But what about the… the…"

Charlie held her breath and triggered the springlocks. They shot back into place instantly, and she winced. _Someone used the suit and the springlocks activated. That's where the blood came from. That's the only explanation._ She exhaled and slipped the crank into her belt, covering it with her shirt.

"What are you-"

"So nobody else can use it."

John nodded slowly.

"Okay, but shouldn't we tell someone?"

"Are you crazy? We can't tell anyone about this!"

"What about Chief Clay? Clearly something bad and bloody happened here."

"Are you listening to yourself right now? If we tell the police, we'll have to admit we were here, and then my dad will find out and he'll never let me leave the house again!" Charlie snapped.

"Then what are we supposed to do? We can't just act like we didn't see it!"

"We can, and we will. Now…" Charlie opened the door just a crack and stared into the pitch black dining room. "We find the others and keep watching the anima-" White light erupted in front of her eyes.

"Shit!"

"Shhh!" Marla held a finger to her lips and lowered the large flashlight in her hand.

"Jesus, Mar!" John snapped, shielding his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry. We found this by the prize counter and thought it might be helpful." _The prize counter._ Charlie's stomach churned as the music box's all-too-familiar melody filled her ears. Carlton, Jessica, and Lamar ran over, ducking between tables in the process.

"Keep the beam out of the view of the cameras." Charlie reminded her friend.

"What's the plan, Stan?" Carlton whispered, "Everyone's moving now."

"We should find a new place to hide. I think-" Charlie cut herself off and abruptly winced in pain. The world spun around her and she collapsed. Another flash of light blurred her vision and she saw a box- a brown box with two locks, sitting in the parts and service room. There was a woman standing by the box, fading in and out of Charlie's vision.

* * *

 _The three children were in the costume closet, coloring away. Suddenly the door opened and the costume hangers rattled._

" _C-idy, it's time to go." Charlie's tearful new friend looked up from the picture of Fredbear he was coloring._

" _I don't want to." He choked out._

" _You'll see Charlie and -a-mmy again tomorrow."_

 _Charlie looked up at the woman towering over her as she took her new friend's free hand and led him away. The closet lights were bright and obstructed her view of the woman's features._

" _Tomorrow is another day." She heard her mutter before she and the boy disappeared into the crowded diner._

* * *

"Charlie? Charlie!"

Charlie groaned and squinted as she came to. A bare lightbulb hovered above her along with her friends, all of them wearing a similar mortified expression.

"Wha-?" She sat up and instantly regretted it, a large headache materializing out of nowhere. Spring Bonnie sat across the way, staring at her judgmentally.

"Hey. Easy." John said softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Charlie hid her eyes behind her hand.

"Parts and service…" She muttered. "I have to… there's a…"

"We're going to get you out of here, okay?" John's voice rose slightly.

"No! I have to-!" Charlie attempted to push him away.

"Charlie, you just had a seizure _._ "

She blinked.

"What?"

"You were twitching and kicking." Jessica explained, "But you were out cold."

"We have to get her to the hospital." Marla whispered, "This is really bad."

"Well, we can't leave right now! Everyone's walking around out there." Carlton exclaimed.

"We could call 911." Lamar offered, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"No! Are you crazy? We'll get in trouble for trespassing." John shot back, "And Charlie's dad will find out."

Charlie groaned again as dark spots filled her vision. This time, however, they appeared to congregate in a kind of pattern. Everyone was still speaking, but they sounded as though they were doing so underwater. The spots convened into a tall figure- a figure with rabbit ears. Two glowing eyes and an upturned mouth materialized seconds later. Charlie shut her eyes, but the figure remained.

"Charlie? Charlie, look at me." John nudged her.

Her head shook no automatically and she sunk down onto the floor, the back of her head still resting against the wall. The figure vanished at last and she opened her weary eyes only to close them again seconds later.

"We'll just have to wait until morning." Jessica said decisively, "We'll be safe in here- the door can be locked and there's no cameras. What time is it?"

"1:30." Lamar said miserably.

"I knew this was a bad idea…" Carlton groaned.

"Did you? You didn't say shit earlier." Marla retorted. There was a note of amusement in her voice despite the dire circumstances. Charlie soon drifted off to her friends' continued banter despite the pain radiating through her neck and chest. She knew that the nightmares would resume due to her lack of medication, but she was far too weak and exhausted to care.

* * *

 _Tomorrow is another day._ Charlie woke with a start. The voice that had spoken those words was vivid and near. Or so she thought. There was no one in the room except for her sleeping friends and Spring Bonnie. Her headache had dulled significantly, but her neck pain had worsened due to how she'd been sleeping. She stood up slowly and carefully, briefly leaning against the wall to regain her bearings. Once she'd steadied herself, she wandered to the door and pressed her ear against it.

She could faintly hear the music box, but that was all. There were no heavy animatronic footsteps. Still, she opened the door just a crack and observed her surroundings carefully before stepping into the empty dining room. Daylight had partially filled the restaurant, reflecting off the tiled floors. _Parts and service._ She had to get to parts and service. Toy Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie stared straight ahead as she passed them, not even turning their shiny heads in her direction. It was the calm after the storm- she only wished that she could have witnessed more of the storm.

The image of the locked box filled Charlie's mind as she made her way down the dark corridor leading to the forsaken room.

"Hold it there." A gruff voice demanded her attention just as she touched the door handle. She gasped and turned around instantly, greeted by the beam of another large flashlight. _Fritz._ The security guard looked even more intimidating in his disheveled state- there were large bags under his blue eyes, his purple dress shirt was untucked on one side, and his brown hair was cowlicked.

"Charlotte?"


	12. Chapter 12: Answers

Chapter 12: Answers

"I _thought_ there was someone in here last night." Fritz was smiling, but he was intimidating even with his pleasant demeanor.

"I uh… I just… I wanted to see-"

"I know why you're here, Charlotte."

"Don't call me that." She snapped. The security guard's smile remained.

"You want to know why the animatronics are acting strange. I have an answer for you, but you're not prepared for it."

"How would you know anything about them? You're just the night guard."

"And?" Fritz calmly pulled a carton of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket.

"You… you'll be gone in a few days. Today, even." Charlie stammered, trying to process whether she knew him or not. It was quite possible that they'd gone to high school together- Hurricane wasn't _that_ small of a town. She didn't know everybody in her graduating class. Fritz lit a cigarette and took a long drag off of it.

"What makes you say that?"

"Everyone quits after a few days. I remember… from when my dad owned Freddy's."

"Tell me, Charlotte, do you know _why_ those guards quit? It wasn't because of their paycheck, I'll tell you that." The condescension in his voice was starting to get to her.

"They… they couldn't handle it. It's long hours and very tiring."

Fritz laughed.

"Long hours and it's very tiring. You really don't know, do you?"

Charlie glared at the guard.

"I know more than _you_. I watched my dad build them."

Fritz held his smouldering cigarette between his lips and unbuttoned one of the sleeves on his purple shirt. Charlie could only stare as he gradually revealed the large wrap bandage on his forearm.

"The Mangle bit me. Damn thing was hanging from the ceiling and swung down. I put my arm up to protect myself, and, well…"

"...The Mangle…?"

"Oh, excuse me. I meant _Toy Foxy._ "

"Toy Foxy can't move. That's impossible."

Fritz laughed again and his cigarette fell onto the shiny checkered floor, where he promptly stepped on it to extinguish the small fire within.

"God, you really don't know. The damn things are murderous now. They catch you, it's over."

"Over?" The word came out as whimper.

"Their facial recognition scanners are broken. I told you the other day, but you didn't believe me. Those guards didn't quit, Charlotte, they were _killed._ "

Charlie stumbled backwards, another wave of nausea sweeping over her. Her head shook on its own.

"Don't believe me? Check the room you were hiding in last night. I know you were in there."

"Spring… Spring Bonnie…"

The blood belonged to a previous, ill-fated, security guard.

"Now you understand."

Charlie managed to catch herself and she sunk down to the floor slowly, staring straight ahead.

"That's not even the whole truth." Fritz said softly. "You don't even know who your father really is."

"Charlie? Charlie!" John rounded the corner, Marla, Lamar, Jessica, and Carlton trailing closely behind him. The five young adults froze at the sight of the nightguard. Only the distant song of the music box filled the corridor they stood in. Charlie shakily stood up, only for Fritz to snatch her wrist.

"Hey!" John lurched forward but was held back by Lamar and Jessica. Charlie found herself staring directly into Fritz's blue eyes, which were intense and determined. He leaned in and she recoiled, partially due to the smoke on his breath. The guard's lips were centimeters away from her ear as he whispered to her seconds later. The girl heard and processed every word, agreed with their sentiment, but did not nod. Fritz released her and turned to the rest of the group.

"Now, I'm not going to call the police, but my manager might. I suggest you leave while I'm the only one here."

Jessica visibly swallowed and her friends all nodded slowly. Charlie rejoined them, staring straight ahead. Fritz reached into his pocket and produced a large set of keys.

"I'm going to let you out the front door so you don't trip the alarm." He said plaintively. Charlie looked up at the frozen toy animatronics once more as the group made their way through the main showroom. Toy Chica in particular seemed to be mocking her with her large smile and empty blue eyes. _So you know one little secret. You'll never uncover the rest,_ she seemed to be saying. Charlie ignored John's piercing gaze until they were out in the empty parking lot.

"Charlie-"

"Take me home." She choked. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances.

"Honey, you had a seizure last night. We should take you to the hospital." John said calmly.

"I'm fine!" Her response came out sharper than she'd anticipated. "Just take me home!" She hurried away from her friends and boyfriend, refusing to let them see the tears that had filled her eyes. John was by her side again seconds later.

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing."

"No, it wasn't nothing." He walked in front of her and prohibited further passage. "Did he threaten you?"

"No."

"Charlotte..."

She stared at him defiantly, very much annoyed by his usage of her full name despite her tears.

"Just tell me. I promise I won't ask any more questions and I won't tell anyone."

Charlie tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and cracked a small but tearful smile.

"He promised me answers."

* * *

Charlie held the springlock crank in her hands, feeling its weight and chilled metal. Beside her, John focused on the side streets he was driving on. He was taking the long route back to her house, she knew, and that meant he wanted to talk. The last time he'd taken this route was when she told him that she was dropping out of college after just one semester.

"Charlie, I love you." He finally broke the uncomfortable silence that had filled the car since they'd left Freddy and Friend's. Not even Carlton had dared to speak on the ride between the restaurant and his house. Jessica had also been uncharacteristically silent, only commenting on the state of Charlie's tangled hair when she'd attempted to comb through it with her fingers.

"I love you, too." Charlie said dismissively, watching the crank in her hands catch the light. John stopped at a four way intersection and looked over at her.

"I love you because you're beautiful, you're smart…" The car behind him honked and he turned his focus back to the road. "...And you're always honest with me. Even if it takes a while for you to open up to me about something… you're honest in the end."

She could see where this was going and pointedly turned to look out the window.

"You promised you wouldn't ask any more questions." She said plaintively. John sighed.

"I know, but you're not being honest right now and that bothers me. You can't just drop something like that and expect me not to question it."

Charlie said nothing.

"He's going to give you answers about Freddy's. I know that."

"So why question it if you know?"

"I didn't like how he grabbed you, first of all. Second of all, I want to know how you're getting these answers. Are you going back?"

"Yes." She admitted after several seconds of intense silence.

"Okay. So you're going to go back when your dad goes to work on the robots. I guess that's okay."

"...No."

"So you're not going back. You're meeting him somewhere?"

"No, I'm going back."

"Charlie, you're not making sense."

She fiddled with the promise ring on her finger.

"I'm going back tomorrow night."

The brakes on John's gray Toyota squealed angrily as he slammed the pedal against the floor.

"Charlie, _no!_ "

"I'm going to sit with him, in the office. That way I can see first hand-"

"You saw first hand last night!"

"No, I saw them for ten minutes and then I passed out-"

"Had a seizure."

"...Had a seizure. This will help me figure out what's going on with them."

"Why do you care so much? You never gave me a straight answer."

"Because dad's hiding something. Something big. He never told me what happened to those missing kids."

"Charlie, it was all over the news! They disappeared without a trace!"

"That's not what happened! Fritz told me that it's way beyond that, and I… I believe him."

John pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let me get this straight. You're going to go back to Freddy and Friend's tomorrow night, alone, to sit in an office with a man you just met, who _grabbed_ you? All because you think your dad's lying about missing kids?"

"I _know_ he's lying! He lied about Fredbear's and he lied about Spring Bonnie and Fredbear. Why wouldn't he lie about this?"

"It doesn't matter if he's lying! It's in the past, they closed the case, there's no damn reason for you to care so much! What, you think you'll find out what happened to Sammy, too? Is that it?"

For a moment, the world stopped spinning. _Sammy._ They were in the costume closet, coloring. Coloring with another boy- a boy with red, tear-streaked cheeks. She and Sammy were alone… until they weren't. Someone else had entered the closest- someone, a figure that was a mere blur in Charlie's mind. Then Sammy was gone. It was a topic that Charlie's father had always danced around- one day Sammy and her mother were there, the next day they were both gone.

Charlie let out a sob and freed herself from her seatbelt in one fluid motion.

"Charlie-" John's expression instantly softened. A second later she was running down the street towards her house. She glanced over her shoulder to see her boyfriend following in hot pursuit, yelling out of the passenger's side window. Her lungs were burning by the time she reached the front steps of the house she shared with her father. The door was unlocked and she stumbled inside, colliding with her Aunt Jen.

The woman gasped and caught her niece before either could hit the wooden floor. Charlie buried her face in her aunt's blouse and sobbed hysterically.

"Charlie!" She heard the soles of John's tennis shoes hitting the concrete on the front walkway.

"What on earth is going on here?" Aunt Jen gently pried Charlie off of her as her father rounded the corner.

"Charlie… I…" John panted, leaning against the doorframe. Charlie was staring at the floor, but she knew that both her father and Aunt Jen were glaring at him accusingly. Part of her wanted to clear up any misunderstanding, but she was still very much upset with him.

"You what?" Charlie's father said dangerously. John sighed deeply.

"Charlie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Go!" She snapped, "Leave me alone!" The look on his face stung her but she was determined to remain furious.

"No. Charlie, please listen. I was just-"

"You heard her. Go." Aunt Jen said flatly. John sighed defeatedly and turned to leave, however, he stopped on the stair landing and turned back around.

"Henry… Mr. Emily… Charlie… she's going to…"

Charlie's jaw dropped as she turned to face him head-on, shaking her head.

"We were at Freddy's last night. Freddy and Friends'." John's voice shook.

Henry stepped forward.

"What?"

Now all three of them had accusatory expressions, all aimed at Charlie. John nodded, not breaking eye contact with her. _I'm sorry._ He said with his brown eyes.

"She wanted to see them. The robots."

"That's not true!" Charlie sobbed. Her heart was physically breaking, in full view of the people she loved and was supposed to be able to trust.

"Get out." Henry growled.

"That's not all. She-"

"I said, get. _Out._ "

"But Henry-"

"Leave!"

John bit his lower lip and put his hands deep in his pockets.

"I love you." He said to deaf ears. Charlie's head continued to shake. The boy turned and retreated down the front walk, casting one more longing gaze at his longtime girlfriend. Henry slammed the door and stared daggers into the wood before turning to his daughter with the same furious expression.

"Is this true?"

"Dad, I didn't-"

"Charlotte, I told you there was no reason to go back. You went back. Why?"

 _Because you've been lying about everything since Fredbear's! Because Spring Bonnie is sitting at Freddy's right now! Spring Bonnie. The crank._ She felt for it on her hip, but it was gone. It was still in John's car, or on the street. Either way, she wasn't getting it back.

"Give me your phone and go to your room. You are grounded."

"I'm 19!"

"And living under my roof, and old enough to know better. You deliberately disobeyed me!"

Charlie looked up at Aunt Jen, longing for any form of a backup. But her aunt looked away.

"Phone." Her father held out his hand. Charlie slammed it into his palm and bolted up the stairs. Once in her room, she threw herself facedown on the bed and screamed into the quilt. She did so several times until her throat was raw, at which point she raised her head and found herself staring directly at Theodore. She grabbed him by one of his arms and slammed him against the floorboards.

"I l-ve u- Ch-lie." Her father's voice grated against her eardrums. She fell backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. There were still some glow-in-the-dark stars there from when she was a kid. Exhausted and out of tears, she stood up and walked to the light switch, kicking Theodore under the bed in the process. It was too bright outside for the stars to glow, even with the curtains closed. She simply stared up at the greenish shapes until her eyes stung and she had to close them. It wasn't long before she fell asleep, the costume closet at Fredbear's Family Diner materializing before her once again.


	13. Chapter 13: The Reunion

_Chapter 13: The Reunion_

 _Sammy pushed a piece of paper towards Charlie._

 _"I drew this for you."_

 _Charlie looked up from her own sheet of paper and examined her brother's drawing. The door to the closet creaked open but she thought nothing of it. It was just another employee, most likely looking for cleaning supplies. Many got the costume and janitors closets mixed up._

 _"...Charlie?" Her brother whispered. She looked up from the drawing to see a shadow of a person looming over the duo. At least, she assumed it was a person. All she saw was gold. The metal hangers in the closet clanked and clattered together as the figure swooped down in one swift, fluid motion. She didn't realize that Sammy was being lifted until he reached for her. She just stared up at him, unable to make a sound. He squirmed in his captor's arms to no avail. The door to the closet opened, and when it closed again, he was gone._

 _No longer frozen, Charlie leapt to her feet, tears pricking her eyes. She tried the doorknob- it didn't budge._

 _"Let me out! Daddy, let me out!"_

 _"Charlie?" A woman's voice came from outside the door._

 _"Let me out!" The girl wailed._

 _"Charlie?" There was a hand on her shoulder._

* * *

She screamed.

"Oh my God!" Aunt Jen jumped back. It took a moment for Charlie to register her aunt's presence. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Jen placed a hand on her niece's upper back.

"It's okay. I'm sorry. Hey…"

"Jesus…" Charlie muttered, rubbing her eyes vigorously.

"Bad dream?"

"Y-yeah…" It had been a while since she'd had that dream. She turned to look out the window. It was still light out, but the sun had faded.

"It's dinnertime. Come on." Aunt Jen gestured for her to get up.

"I'm not hungry." Charlie said immediately. The events of that morning immediately came back to her- waking up at Freddy's, talking to Fritz… she remembered his every word.

"Come back tomorrow night, alone. I'll tell you everything, show you everything. But be prepared- you're not going to like what I have to tell you."

Aunt Jen sighed.

"Honey, I know you're upset, but I have to agree with your father- there's no reason for you to be going back to Freddy's. There's nothing for him to hide-"

"You both keep on saying that, but it's a bunch of bullshit and you know it!"

"Charlie!"

"If there were nothing to hide, we'd still own it! Dad tried to get away for a reason."

"Charlotte, I will never understand why you care so much. It doesn't affect you, it's in the past-"

"Doesn't affect me? I knew some of those missing kids. They were in my class. Oh, and remember how dad destroyed Fredbear and Spring Bonnie? He didn't want them around for some reason."

"Charlotte Marie, that's enough!"

"What's enough? Me calling out dad's bullshit?"

"CHARLOTTE!" Her father barked from the doorway. Both women jumped. Henry was red in the face and his forehead was scrunched in anger. "Jen, go downstairs. You can help yourself to dinner."

The woman nodded slowly and walked out of the room, gazing at Charlie the whole time. Once she was gone, Henry shut his daughter's door and stared at it for several seconds.

"Charlotte, you cannot and will not talk to your aunt, or me, like that. Are we clear?"

"...Yeah." Charlie said, promising nothing. Her father sighed deeply and turned around to face her, looking plaintive.

"I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but I don't like it."

"I'm in pain all the time, first of all." Charlie said truthfully.

"So you lied to me because you're in pain?"

She looked away, refusing to let him see the tears in her eyes. She didn't like her father being mad at her at the end of the day, but showing weakness now wasn't an option.

"I'm not lying to you, Charlie. The fact that you think I am… it hurts." I saw Spring Bonnie. That was all she needed to say to shut him down. But, for whatever reason, she couldn't. "I've been trying to decide on your punishment all afternoon. Obviously I can't trust you to stay home alone, so you'll be at Junior's with me whenever we're not at home. I'm not going back to Freddy's to work on the robots- it's completely out of the question for either of us to go back there. You're getting your phone back, but you'll only have it from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Do you understand?"

Charlie nodded.

"Has John called?"

"Yes. Several times. I had to turn your phone off."

"That's fine." She said flatly. He'd be lucky to even get a text. Then again, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea- she was mad- furious even, but that didn't constitute a breakup.

"Now, come downstairs. Food's ready."

Charlie reluctantly followed her father, glancing back at the bed. She almost wanted to pull Theodore out from under it, but she wanted to prove a point. Whether it was to herself or to her father, she didn't know. Once downstairs, she spotted her phone on the coffee table and switched it on. 10 missed calls, 15 new texts. She opened the most recent one.

1 of 2: I love you. You can be mad, but know that I said what I said because I was scared. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you went and

2 of 2: ..something bad happened to you. I don't trust him. You shouldn't either. I love you.

She sighed and her fingers traced the keypad several times before she wrote back,

I love you too. I understand why you did what you did, but I'm still mad. I'll be stuck at Junior's tomorrow and I know dad doesn't want to see you right now, so call me tomorrow night.

"Charlie?" Her father called from the kitchen.

"Coming." She flipped the phone shut and stuffed it into her pocket. She was still mad, and she was determined to stay mad. Staying mad meant that she'd stay determined.

* * *

"Order up, 10 B." Tim the head chef barked at Charlie right as she returned to the kitchen.

"Got it." She carefully balanced a large order of mozzarella sticks and a medium pepperoni pizza on a serving tray and rushed into the dining room. There were three parties and several tables of casual guests, which was usual on a Sunday afternoon despite the pizzeria closing at 7 o'clock instead of the usual 10.

"10 B, 10 B…" Charlie muttered to herself, scanning the mental map in her head. Ah. 10 B, right by Mr. Hippo's story corner. Several children swarmed around her as she set down the food.

"Excuse me?" A gruff voice came from beside her. She turned to see a middle aged man extending an empty glass to her. "You said you'd be back with more punch."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm just delivering the food first, then I'll-"

"That tray's big enough. You shouldn't have to make multiple trips."

Charlie muttered a half-hearted apology and hurried away. Two of the waitresses had called in, leaving her and just one other on the floor. She let the tray fall to her side and rested her forehead on the wall by the prize counter. Why me? Her sour mood had started with John's phone call the day before- their conversation had been brief and awkward. She'd tried to end it on good terms, but both sighed in exasperation after strained "I love you"s. She wouldn't be seeing him for another month, over his Winter vacation.

"So, you had more important things to do." A smooth British voice floated over the din of the crowd at Junior's. Charlie jerked her head around to see Fritz leaning against the glass display counter, arms crossed. She almost didn't recognize him without the Freddy's uniform. He wore dark blue jeans and a loose purple t-shirt. His brown hair was still a bit of a mess, although it wasn't cowlicked like the last time she'd seen him.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, frantically scanning the floor for her father.

"You stood me up. I just wanted to know why." Fritz said cooly, "Was it something I said?"

Henry rounded the corner by Mr. Hippo's stage.

"Shit! Get back here!" Charlie grabbed Fritz's arm and pulled him around and then behind the prize counter.

"Look, my dad found out I was at Freddy's and grounded me. He checks on me at night so I couldn't sneak out."

Fritz raised an eyebrow.

"He… checks on you?"

"You see, I was in a car accident and I hit my head-"

"You were in a car accident and hit your head? Did the airbag not go off?"

"No! I mean, I don't remember anything from that night. But that's not important. You can't be here!"

"I'm not leaving until you agree to come with me 's urgent."

"Are you deaf? He checks on me every couple of hours."

"Do you not have a friend you can say you're staying with?"

Charlie growled in frustration.

"After the other night, I'll never be able to sleep at a friend's house ever again!"

"Ah." Fritz chewed his lower lip for several seconds before his blue eyes lit up. "The diner down the street is hiring."

"So? How does that help me?"

"They're hiring for the night shift. Say you're applying and then that you got hired. That way you can leave the house at night!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa ... that's crazy." Charlie let out an agitated laugh. "He'd never go for it."

"Why not? He'd be certain that you'd be staying out of trouble. It is a job, after all."

"Charlie?" Her father called into the nearby kitchen.

"Okay! I'll do it! But you have to leave. Now!"

Fritz nodded and stood up.

"Wait! Give me your phone!"

"Charlie?!" Henry approached the prize counter. Charlie hurriedly set up a contact in her name on Fritz's phone.

"I'll distract him. Wait under here until I can get him away." She thrusted the phone back at him and sprang up.

"Yeah, dad?"

"There you are. Come on, I need you to-"

"Okay! Let's go! I need to tell you something!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the back hallway where his office was located.

"Charlie, what-?"

"It's really important." She looked over her shoulder. Fritz stood up and hurried out of the pizzeria, giving her a wink in the process. She rolled her eyes and yanked her father into his office.

"Okay, what's so important? I need you back on the floor."

"Okay, so I know this is really random and you need me here, but I… I want a second job."

"What? Charlie, you don't have time for another job. I need you here."

"Yes, I know, but only during the day. The diner down the street- Stevie's- is hiring people for the night shift and-"

"No, Charlie. You need to sleep if you're going to be here all day."

"Couldn't we work something out? Please? Like, I can work here for four days out of the week, and at Stevie's the other three? You won't have to worry about leaving me home alone because I'll be sleeping and nothing else." She clasped her hands together. "I need some extra money for when I go back to school."

"You're… thinking about going back to school?"

"Eventually! I want to learn more about coding and robots so that you'll let me do repairs."

Henry sighed.

"...I guess. But understand that Aunt Jen will still have to be at the house while you're sleeping. You need to regain my trust."

"Yes! Thank you!" She threw her arms around her baffled father. "Can we please go over to Stevie's now? It's almost time for my break."

Henry sighed, deeper this time.

"I suppose. Honestly, Charlie, did you drink some of the fruit punch? You're practically bouncing off the walls."

"No, I'm just really excited. This will be a great change of pace!"

"...Okay, get your jacket. I'll let Judy know we're leaving for a while."

Charlie's head hurt from the exhilaration of everything, but she barely noticed. She was finally going to get her answers.

* * *

"Don't you have a uniform?" Charlie's father inquired as she entered the living room clad in jeans, a purple t-shirt, and her favorite green sweatshirt.

"No, they're... under new management. We can wear what we want as long as it's appropriate."

"O-kay. You're sure you don't want a ride? It's nippy out there."

"No, the bus is fine." Charlie said quickly, "But you can… you can pick me up tomorrow morning. At 7."

"All right. I'll see you then." Henry turned his attention to the 10 o'clock news.

"Bye! Love you!" Charlie stepped into the cold November air and took a deep breath. Her stomach was in knots, but it was better than feeling nauseous. Thankfully, the bus was right on schedule and she didn't have to wait in the cold for long. Once on board, she immediately spotted Fritz. He was sitting towards the back of the nearly empty bus, staring out the window.

"Hey." She plopped down on the seat next to him.

"Hello there."

"Sooo… we're getting there pretty early then. More time to settle in, huh?"

Fritz smiled and shook his head.

"Oh no, we're not going to Freddy's now. Your dad thinks you're going to Stevie's, yeah?"

"...Yeah?"

"Let's not lie to him completely."

Charlie blinked.

"What? I'm hungry. It's a lot easier to focus with coffee in your system. Believe me, you need to focus." There was a hint of nervousness in his voice. The reality, Charlie knew, was that they would be in grave danger the second they stepped foot in that open office- she thought of the blood in the Spring Bonnie suit and swallowed hard. Stevie's was only a few stops away, but the silence between them made it feel like an eternity. They were both too deep in thought to speak, and their silence endured until they were sitting in a booth, a large pot of coffee in front of them.

"...So, Toy Foxy can move?" Charlie broke the silence at last. Fritz looked relieved as he nodded.

"Yeah. Couldn't believe it myself until I saw the thing hanging from the ceiling by the prize counter. It crawls on the ceiling and in the vents. When you hear it in the vents, you want to put the spare Freddy head on."

"...Spare Freddy head?"

"Remember what I said about the facial scanners? If you put on the Freddy head they'll think you're one of them and leave you alone."

"So… you just leave it on all night?"

Fritz shook his head and took a large swig of coffee before speaking.

"It doesn't work on all of them, and you need to be able to see the computer screen." He went on to explain the music box, the flashlight, and each animatronic.

"Now, those old models in the back also move. Found that out the hard way when Chica found her way into the office. She's big, but she can still fit through the with Bonnie."

Charlie recalled the broken diner models and how frighteningly disheveled they were. The idea of them coming after her was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"Okay… I think I've got it. You keep an eye on the monitor and the music box, I watch the vents and the hallway."

"Right. That's all the technical stuff. But I have a feeling that you want to know more than the technical stuff."

The waitress set their food down on the table and Fritz immediately delved into his plate, but Charlie had far too many questions spinning around in her head.

"Can you tell me about-"

Her phone rang. John. She just stared at the vibrating device in her hand.

"You can take that if you need." Fritz said with a mouthful of pancakes. She shook her head and slipped it back into her pocket.

"No, it's fine. Tell me… do you know anything about the missing kids?"

Fritz swallowed and nodded.

"Back at the second diner… Freddy's Diner. What do you remember?"

"Well, some of those kids were in my class. There was a birthday party for one of them the day they went missing. I remember-" Her phone buzzed again. "...I actually do have to take this. I'm sorry." She left her untouched omelette and raced outside.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Listen, I feel really, really bad about what happened. If I could go back, I wouldn't say anything."

"It's a little late for that now." Charlie leaned against the brick awning of the diner. John sighed.

"I know, but I… I.. I really need you to forgive me."

"I told you, I forgive you."

"But you don't. Not really."

A car pulled into the deserted parking lot.

"Well, I'm still mad, if that's what you mean." She faced the wall and pressed her hand against it. Two car doors slammed audibly behind her.

"I guess… I guess that is what I mean. I don't want you to be mad anymore. I know I screwed up. Bad. But-"

"It's okay. I forgive you. I mean it. I.. I have to go." The door jingled beside her as two patrons entered the diner.

"What was that? Charlie, where are you?"

"I'm at home- dad and I are watching TV. I have to go now. Love you."

"Charlie-" Click. She sighed deeply and stared at the promise ring on her finger. It was positive proof that John loved her. He'll propose soon. Everything will be fine. She walked back into the diner, where Fritz was drumming his fingers on the table.

"Sorry about that. I-"

"We have to go. Now." He produced two twenties and tossed them onto the table.

"What? But I-"

"I asked for a box. It's REALLY important that we get going. We're going to be late."

She glanced at her phone.

"It's only 11:10."

Their waitress came by with a to-go box and Fritz snatched it from her, shoveling Charlie's omelette into it.

"Keep the change." He grabbed Charlie's hand and yanked her out of the diner. Once outside, he pulled her to a nearby dumpster and pushed her behind it.

"Fritz, what-"

"Shh!" The diner's door jingled again and two people emerged. Although the lights that illuminated the parking lot were dim, Charlie recognized the girl from Junior's. The man beside her also looked familiar. Then she remembered. Rain. Shrill laughter. His tall figure looming over her, holding a piece of blunt metal over his head. A tire iron. She stumbled backwards and Fritz caught her.

"Daddy, I saw him. Him and her." The girl chirped.

"Yes you did, sweetheart." The man had a crooning British Accent, similar to Fritz's.

"But they disappeared. Poof!"

"Not for long. Daddy knows where to find them. Get in the car, sweetheart." With that, the two headed back towards the blue Cadillac in the middle of the parking lot. As they sped away Charlie let out a whimper.

"It was them."

"What?"

"I… I wasn't in a car accident. She… that girl… she lured me to that car and then… and then…" She covered her mouth with her hand. "We have to go to Freddy's! We have to hide!"

"We can't go to Freddy's, that's where they're headed. If we go there, they'll trap us."

"How do you know? Who are they?"

"Charlotte… I promised you answers, and I'll give them to you. But we have to get out of here." He grabbed her hand again and pulled her towards the bus stop.


	14. Chapter 14: The Cold Truth

Charlie didn't recognize anything- they were on the outskirts of town, surrounded by empty fields.

"Where are we going?" She asked Fritz yet again. No response. _Okay. I'm on a bus with a guy I barely know, at 1 am, on the outskirts of town. He won't tell me where we're going. Did I transfer Chief Clay's number to my new phone?_ She analyzed the situation repeatedly in her head. To make matters worse, she was boxed in- Fritz was sitting on the aisle seat. They were the only remaining passengers, which made her even more wary of her safety. The bus came to an abrupt stop and she jolted forward, causing her head and neck to smart.

"End of the line." The gray-haired bus driver declared. Fritz stood up, but Charlie didn't move.

"Charlotte? Come on."

She stared out the window. There weren't any lights anywhere, although she could faintly see the outlines of houses in the distance. _Nope._ She turned to Fritz and just stared at him. _You can't be serious._

"End of the line." The bus driver raised his voice.

"Come on, then. End of the line." Fritz extended his hand.

"Where are we?" She demanded.

"Somewhere safe. Come on."

She stood up slowly and reached into her pocket, feeling for her keys. If she held them in the right way she could use them as a makeshift weapon. The bus sped away the second the duo stepped off of it, and she gripped the keys tightly.

"This way. Stay close, it's easy to get lost." Fritz gestured for her to follow him onto a small footpath. They walked for what seemed like an eternity, in complete silence. The sound of a babbling stream nearby served as a slight comfort to Charlie, but she was perpetually on edge. She wasn't sure if she was relieved when a house came into view- it was definitely abandoned, with an overgrown lawn, loose shingles, and chipping red siding. As she and Fritz stepped onto the wooden porch, the whole foundation seemed to shake. He dug a keyring out of his pocket, fumbled with several keys, and then applied one to the front door.

Charlie lingered in the doorway after he stepped inside. _Okay, I can still run._

"Hold on a minute…" There were several shuffling sounds and then a loud click. She shielded her eyes as a bright light filled the room.

"Hold this." Fritz extended a large, heavy flashlight to her. It was similar to the police flashlight Charlie had had in her car, at Aunt Jen's insistence. She watched as Fritz picked up a matchbook, struck one of the matches, and then lit several candles. The flickering lights revealed a cozy living room- at least, it was once cozy. The overstuffed couch and armchair had stuffing coming out of them in several places, the weathered oak coffee table was cluttered with old newspapers, and an ancient TV sat next to a tall bookshelf overflowing with books.

"Who... who's house is this?"

"Mine." Fritz said breathily.

"You… live here?"

"Yeah. I mean, I _did._ A long time ago."

"Why are we here?"

"I told you, it's safe here. They've forgotten about this place."

"Who's they? That girl and that man?"

Fritz nodded.

"You should sit down." He gestured to the overstuffed couch. Charlie sunk into the cushions immediately after sitting down, and she had to shift vigorously to get comfortable. Fritz sat in the armchair and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, using the flame of a nearby candle to light one. Charlie watched as he inhaled deeply and then expelled the smoke from his lungs. He relaxed with a sigh, sinking back into the chair. She let go of her keys at last. If his intention was to attack her, he would have already done so. At least, that was what she told herself.

"That man… I feel like I've seen him before. And not just on the night he attacked me." She leaned forward and clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them. Fritz nodded.

"You have. At Fredbear's."

Charlie frowned.

"Was he a host or a waiter?"

"He and your father were business partners."

"My dad didn't have a partner."

Fritz stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. He pulled several books out, glancing at their spines, before selecting a large one.

"I _think_ it was this one…" He held his cigarette between his lips and flipped through several pages. "Ah. Here it is." He plopped down on the couch beside her, causing it to groan and sink further down. Charlie shifted against him- they were shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh due to the ineffective springs within it. She tilted her head as she examined the photo Fritz pointed at. A much younger version of her father, sans glasses, stood next to a brown-haired, grinning man wearing some kind of costume. The grinning man looked familiar beyond having seen him the night of the attack and a few hours ago, but Charlie couldn't put her finger on it.

"I… I guess I do remember someone else constantly being in the office…" She admitted. Fritz turned the page and she gasped. Three of her classmates stared up at her from the album- the other two kids she didn't recognize- along with her and her brother. Her father and the grinning man from the previous photo stood behind the group, each wearing a golden mascot costume. There were two large mascot heads pressed against either man's hip- a rabbit and a bear, respectively.

"F-Fredbear? Spring Bonnie?"

"The animatronics could be worn as a costume or put onstage to perform-"

"I know." Charlie interrupted, "I remember." She tilted her head again- there was someone else in the picture- a tiny boy clutching a Fredbear plush. His cheeks were red and his eyes were glazed despite the smile plastered across his face. The costume closet flashed in Charlie's mind. She and Sammy used to play with him. They'd colored with him on the day Sammy disappeared.

"I… I remember that boy." She pointed to the tearful child.

Fritz tensed- she felt his shoulder rise against hers.

"Y-you remember him?"

"Yeah… Sammy- that's my brother- and I used to play with him. He was always crying because _his_ brother and his friends picked on him. I never forgot that mean boy." She thought of the brown-haired boy stealing Theodore and a pang of anger struck her in the chest. Fritz let out a shuddering breath.

"Fritz?"

"Right. I remember him too. Poor kid." He started to shut the photo album but Charlie put her hand between the shutting cover and the page.

"Wait." She took the album onto her own lap and flipped it back open.

"That's him. That's the brother." She pointed to the brown-haired boy, who was pictured holding a Foxy mask. Another boy with a mullet stood beside him, holding a Bonnie mask.

"You said you remember him, too. Did his brother pick on you, too?"

Fritz let out another shuddering breath. Charlie looked at him quizzically before examining yet another photo- Cassidy, the brown-haired boy, and a little girl with golden hair stood in front of the grinning man and a blonde woman. They were all smiling, and the small boy didn't look tearful for once, although he was still holding the Fredbear plush.

"Wait…" There was a reason the grinning man looked so familiar- his blue eyes mirrored Fritz's along with a similar jawline and nose. "That's… that's.."

"Charlotte-"

" _Wow, your brother is kind of a baby, isn't he?" Charlie looked up from her drawing to see several kids surrounding her friend._

" _It's hilarious." The brown haired boy smirked. Each child was wearing a mascot mask- the brown-haired boy was Foxy, the boy with the mullet was Bonnie, another boy was Chica, and the last boy in the group was Freddy. "Why don't we help him get a closer look? He will love it!"_

 _Charlie dropped her blue crayon._

" _No! Please!" The small boy sobbed._

" _Come on guys, let's give the little man a lift. He wants to get up close and personal!" Foxy boy sneered._

" _No! I don't want to go!" Charlie watched in horror as Foxy boy and Bonnie boy lifted his brother off the ground and dragged him towards the stage, where Fredbear and Spring Bonnie were performing. They were getting close to the stage- too close._

" _Daddy!" Charlie leapt out of her chair and ran to the back office. Her father was shuffling papers while talking to another man. The man from the photo._

" _Charlie? What is it?"_

" _M-Mi-el and his friends are taking Cassidy to the stage!"_

 _The two men exchanged glances and ran out of the office. Charlie followed suit, running as fast as her little legs could carry her._

" _Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss! On three. One.. two…."_

" _Hey! You kids get away from there!" Henry barked. Charlie had never seen her father run so fast._

" _THREE!"_

 _What happened next happened in slow motion- the small boy's head was pushed into Fredbear's moving mouth. There was the sound of whirring and clicking animatronic parts, and then a shriek that made Charlie let out one of her own. Blood. There was blood running from Fredbear's mouth and down his golden torso. Several patrons let out screams of their own and shielded their childrens' eyes._

" _Call 911! Call 911!" Somebody shouted._

 _Charlie couldn't look away, nor could the small boy's tormentors._

" _I-I- it was an… ac-accident!" Foxy boy stuttered._

" _CHARLOTTE!" Her father was suddenly back by her side, covering her eyes. The last thing she saw was the other man, her father's partner, trying to pry Fredbear's bloody jaw apart._

"Charlotte?" Fritz said warily.

"It… it's you." Charlie's breathing was labored.

"Charlotte, I-" Fritz's voice broke. He touched her shoulder and she jumped up off the couch, tears streaming down her face.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

She couldn't be certain, but there appeared to be tears in Fritz's eyes as well.

"It was an accident. I didn't know that-"

"An ACCIDENT?! You knew damn well what would happen!"

"No, I _DIDN'T._ Charlotte, it haunts me every night. I see it over and over again whenever I close my eyes. I've seen it over and over again for 15 years!"

"I should hope so!"

Fritz looked stung. She shook her head.

"Fritz… that's not your name, is it? Who are you really? Who is _he_ really?"

Fritz buried his face in his hands.

"...I promised you the truth, and, despite what you might be thinking, I'm a man of my word."

Charlie was shaking- her hands were shaking, her knees were threatening to give out. Fritz pulled out another cigarette but hesitated before lighting it.

"My name is Michael. Michael Afton. That man… your father's business partner, is William. William Afton, although he probably goes by something else these days."

 _Afton._ Charlie vaguely recalled that name being spoken by her father in passing. Michael lit his cigarette at last.

"The girl… her name is Elizabeth. She's my sister. Well, she _was._ "

"And that boy was your brother." She said shakily.

"Cassidy." She saw that speaking the name caused Michael pain, but she refused to feel sympathy. "Elizabeth… well, her blood is on your father's hands."

"What?" She choked.

"Your father is far from a saint, Charlie. People shunned my father's name, still do, but they should be shunning "Emily" as well. If you were ever to take a look at his blueprints, you'd see that his.. erm, _experiments_ were pretty messed up."

"Experiments?" Charlie sputtered.

"There's a reason his animatronics are so erratic. It's not just the malfunctioning facial scanners."

"What are you talking about?" Her question came out as a shout. Michael calmly took a long drag off his cigarette.

"My father murdered those five kids. He murdered more as time went on, and your father cleaned up after him. When I say "cleaned up", I mean that he trapped them. Physically and spiritually. How, I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that there were several little bodies hidden in those suits."

Charlie was hyperventilating now, trying not to throw up. She lowered herself onto the floor.

"You're… you're lying."

"Oh?" Michael stood up. "I happen to have something right here." He walked back to the bookshelf and reached the highest shelf. He pulled a large sheet of folded blue paper down and set it in front of her before calmly sitting back down on the couch. Charlie unfolded the paper with shaking hands.

There, in white pencil and ink, was a picture of a sinister-looking device. _. . Of . ._ Read the text on the top right of the blueprint. She examined the diagram with tear-filled eyes.

 _A: Excavating Arm._

 _B. Remnant Injector. Notes: Leave trace line amount on interior. Over-usage/Over-exposure negates effect._

 _C: Arm Base and Balance._

 _D: Remnant Reservoir. Notes: When heated, no observable motion. Keep in heated tank at sustained temperature. Substance should be malleable, but not more. There is a possibility that overheating might neutralize the effects permanently._

It was all in her father's handwriting. On the bottom right of the blueprint was a small copyright claim: _Afton Robotics LTD._ That was where she'd heard "Afton" before. Her father had built the animatronics under the guise of that business.

"How do you know all this?" Charlie choked. Michael just chewed on his lower lip. "Tell me!"

"...When I was locked up, my mother wrote me several letters several times a month for years. She was my father's closest confidant, next to your father."

"Why the hell didn't she tell anyone? And… locked up? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I murdered my kid brother. They dubbed me a psychopath, especially when I was held in juvenile hall and started seeing things. They decided that I needed to be drugged up and put away rather than held in jail. As for my mother… do you honestly think she simply could've come forward with all of this? For one, no law enforcement officer would believe a word of it. Secondly, your father and my father were in this together- both threatened her. She had to hide the letters in electric bill envelopes in order to smuggle them to the post office. When I was about 16, the letters stopped coming. I can only assume that they caught on and dealt with her."

Charlie was dizzy again. She stared up at the ineffectual ceiling light and gradually laid down.

"There it is. The whole truth. I told you you wouldn't like it."

The prospect of facing her father ever again made Charlie even sicker. No wonder he was so desperate to get away from Freddy's- each and every one of his secrets were within the walls of each location. She gained her composure long enough to speak.

"But I never saw your father after Fredbear's. How did he continue doing all this if he didn't work there?"

"Oh, but he did. He changed his name, dyed his hair, managed to fly under your father's radar temporarily. Your father would discover him and they'd continue the vicious cycle. My father would murder a couple of kids, your father would clean up after him, get rid of him, and he'd show up again at the next location with a new name and a new look."

"What about Elizabeth?"

"That I'm not one hundred percent clear on. All I know is that one of your father's more… _elaborate_ creations got to her, she died, and then she was somehow fine. At least, fine by certain standards. She's not my sister anymore- she's a sadistic little girl trapped in a teenager's body. It's quite sad, really."

"But why… why me? Why did he attack me? Your father?"

"That I don't know, but I'm fairly certain it was a revenge plot. An eye for an eye, a daughter for a daughter. At least you survived. But he's looking for you. You _and_ me. And if he finds us… well…" Michael put out his cigarette. "This time you won't survive."

* * *

It took ages for Charlie to fall asleep. She was lying on a fairly comfortable bed, wrapped in a quilt with Michael inches away from her. She should have been comfortable, besides the fact that she was sharing the bed with a complete stranger. _Just pretend he's John._ She rolled onto her side and imagined his face buried in her hair, his arm protectively wrapped around her waist. It worked, at least for a little while. A low rumble woke her up minutes later.

Thunder? She glanced at her phone. 3:58 am. There was another low rumble. She grabbed the flashlight on the bedside table and stood up, regretting it immediately. A massive headache had developed. She let out a groan and made her way to the right door. That was something unusual about this bedroom- there was a door on either side of it. The hallway windows weren't rain stained or even snow stained. What she'd heard wasn't thunder. It could have been the house settling on its crumbling foundation. Just as she was about to switch off the flashlight and head back to the bed, she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. It was a gold flash of movement at the end of the hallway.

A grandfather clock struck 4 somewhere in the house. Charlie stared down the hallway for several seconds. She hadn't taken her pills in days- clearly she was seeing things. She sighed deeply and walked back to the bed, slipping back underneath the quilt. Just as she shut her eyes, the rumble sounded again. This time it sounded as though it were right next to her. She sat up with a gasp- something was at the foot of the bed. _Michael?_ He was still next to her, sleeping soundly. She picked up the flashlight with shaking hands and switched it on. There, directly in front of her, was a large gold bear with gleaming red eyes, disheveled fur and several rows of sharp teeth.


	15. Chapter 15: Alone

Charlie let out a whimper. The tattered bear looming over her was over 7 feet tall- its head almost touched the ceiling. As horrified as she was, she couldn't look away. A high-pitched noise assaulted her ears but she didn't dare cover them for fear of dropping the flashlight.

"Mmmf…. Charlotte?" Michael stirred beside her.

The bear turned its head in his direction and the rumbling noise sounded again. Charlie realized that it wasn't a rumble at all- it was deep laughter. Michael sat up and instantly recoiled, his breath hitching in his throat. He too was seeing the monstrosity before her eyes- it was written on his face. The flashlight flickered and he yanked it away from her, striking it repeatedly. It died a second later, shrouding the two in darkness.

The high-pitched noise stopped and there was nothing but the sound of subdued breathing. There was another laugh and then the flashlight flickered back to life. Charlie jumped as a warm hand covered hers.

"You… you saw it too?" Michael whispered. Charlie was shaking again, staring into the void the monster bear had previously occupied. "Charlotte, did you see it?"

"Y-yeah."

The two sat motionless for several minutes, listening intently for the deep laughter.

"It's gone." Michael said finally. Charlie glanced down at their hands and then at him, catching his gaze. "Oh.. I'm sorry." He withdrew his hand.

"It's… it's okay."

They both stared at the closet in the center of the room.

"Michael?"

"Mmm?"

"How long… how long have you been seeing it?"

"15 years- starting on the night of the… accident."

 _The accident._ It irked her that he called it an accident. His intentions were malicious, the act was malicious. She swallowed her agitation.

"One night, in the hospital… I had to hold the door shut because it was in the hallway and wouldn't leave."

"Why didn't you just lock it?"

"The doors in those places don't lock- the doctors need to be able to get in at anytime in order to jam pills down your throat."

"I've only seen it once. I was in the hospital after… _he_ attacked me."

"What… what exactly did... he do to you?" Michael turned to her at last.

Charlie's breath caught in her throat and she tensed. She saw William's face clearly in her mind- smug, elated to inflict pain… and death. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"You don't have to tell me if-"

"No. It's okay." She met his gaze and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, exposing the scar on her forehead. "He hit me with something. I think it was a tire iron. A big one." Michael squinted.

"Yeah, I see it."

Charlie sighed and averted her gaze to the floor.

"I woke up in the alley behind Junior's. He left me there to die."

"But he failed, and he's furious." Michael said gravely. Charlie nodded.

"I know."

"No, Charlotte, he's _furious._ Furious as in, he'll kill you in the most brutal way possible. He won't let you slip away again."

She swallowed.

"...What about you?"

"It's hard to say. I think he wants to torture me more than anything else. Sick bastard will probably skin me alive." A harrowing silence settled over the pair.

"So… what do we do? He's looking for us."

"Charlotte, listen closely." Michael took her hands in his. His blue eyes were intense and foreboding- she had to avert her own. "You have to stay close to your father, no matter how tedious it is, even knowing what you know."

"What?!"

"A rift between the two of you gives my father the perfect opportunity for exploitation. It makes you both vulnerable; He could turn you against each other without you realizing it."

Charlie nodded slowly.

"Now, about Freddy's- we have to go back, even with my father and Elizabeth lurking."

"But… you said they'd trap us."

"We've thrown them off the trail by not going there tonight. They'll probably try the other location, buying us some more time."

"That's… that's good, actually. I really need to go back- there's something I need to find."

Michael looked at her quizzically.

"This is going to sound crazy, but I had a vision of a box. A locked box. I saw it in the Parts and Service room."

"What did it look like?"

"It was gray, with two locks on it."

Michael's eyes widened. He scrambled off the bed and grabbed the flashlight. Charlie scooted to the edge of the bed and watched as he pulled a box out from underneath the white dresser- the one she'd seen in her vision. He pulled out his keyring and selected a small key, which he applied to each lock.

"The letters from my mother… I kept them all." Michael picked up the box and set it on the bed between them. She immediately reached for a letter but stopped herself when she saw his pained expression.

"It's okay." He said mournfully, "I just… these are all I have left of her."

Charlie nodded and looked down at the unmade bed.

"It's okay…. I trust you." Michael reassured her. After another moment of hesitation, she unfolded a letter and started to read.

 _My dear Michael,_

 _Many things have transpired since my last letter. Your father has committed more atrocities and has been discovered by Henry once again. Once again, the investigations have turned up nothing. What they do with all those little bodies, I'll never know. Elizabeth continues to idolize your father, and I fear that she will soon commit similar atrocities._

"I remember the investigation at Freddy and Friends'. I was a sophomore." Charlie commented, "It was the same story as before- the kids just disappeared without a trace. My dad and I weren't at the restaurant when it happened."

"Keep reading." Michael sighed.

 _Henry came to visit me the other day, shortly after he discovered your father. As usual, I am not to say a word, or else I will face dire consequences. Henry Emily is not a violent man, but he is a man of his word. Your father will not hesitate to harm me, and he knows this. I'm terrified, Michael, but leaving is not an option. I must continue to update you with information you can use upon your release._

 _I close by saying, once again, that when you are released, you must stop them. Your father AND Henry. They have inflicted so much pain and harm on this little town and its residents, especially the parents who will never hold their children in their arms again. Track them down, keep them from inflicting further harm. Do whatever you must. I love you, son._

 _Yours,_

 _Mom_

"Damn him, I don't believe this!" Charlie threw the letter into the box and turned to Michael, fresh tears streaming down her face. He took her hands again and gave them a squeeze. "He let something horrible happen, all to protect himself! I can't just stay quiet!"

"You have to, Charlotte. At least for now." Michael's voice was urgent.

"I can't… I can't!" She started to sob.

"Charlotte, I promise that all of this will end. The madness will end."

"How?"

"I have a plan. I've had a plan for a while now. But in order for it to work, you have to go on like nothing's wrong."

"What… what is it?"

"Those little bodies my mother was talking about in her letter… those little souls. They're all trapped in your father's creations. I think I can free them, but it requires very careful planning and a little more… research. That's why we have to go back."

"What are you going to do, sprinkle holy water?"

"Not exactly." Michael looked down.

"Not exactly?"

"Look, I'm still planning and working out the kinks. Once I've worked them out, I'll tell you everything."

Charlie nodded, but she was unconvinced.

"You have to trust me, Charlotte." He said softly. She looked down at their hands and then up at him.

"Well… you haven't lied yet."

He gave her a tired smile and she smiled back despite the tears still forming in her eyes.

"Now… you should sleep."

"But what if that… that thing comes back?"

"I'll keep watch, but I don't think it will."

Charlie set an alarm on her phone.

"I have to be back at the diner by 7. When does the bus stop here?"

"6:15. You'll get there with time to spare."

"At least I'll be tired and dad will believe I've been working all night." She laid down and rolled onto her side. The prospect of facing her father knowing what she knew made her physically ill, but she did trust Michael. She just hoped that nobody else would be hurt.

* * *

Charlie swallowed as her father's car came into view. She'd left Michael at the house with the promise of meeting again the following night, and it couldn't come soon enough.

"How's it going, working girl?" Henry inquired with a smile. She forced a smile of her own.

"Fine. It was pretty dead all night."

"Really? You look exhausted." He pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm not used to staying up all night yet. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon." Her phone vibrated. It was Jessica.

 _Hey, are you busy? Marla and I need to talk to you._

 _I'm just getting off my shift at Stevie's, but you come over to my place for a while._ She typed back.

"Marla and Jessica are coming over." She told her father with a yawn.

"Okay, but only for a little while. You need to take your pills and sleep."

"No, I'll sleep for two days. I don't need them anymore."

"Charlotte." He said warningly, "Remember what happened last time?" _The letters. Slicing her skin, filling the hallway. The silhouette of a woman standing by the window._ She recalled every detail vividly, and the mostly-healed cuts on her face stung again, if only for a moment. Then there was the matter of the nightmare monstrosity from the night before- if she didn't take the damn pills, she might see it again. She nodded begrudgingly.

"Fine."

Jessica's blue Neon was already parked outside of the house, behind Aunt Jen's green Honda. There was laughter when Charlie set foot in the house, but it fell away when she stepped into the living room. Aunt Jen was still smiling, but Marla and Jessica both wore expressions of contempt.

"Hey, guys." Charlie smiled but only got a half-hearted one from Marla in return.

"Well, I'll let you girls hang out. I'll be down here." Aunt Jen picked up a paperback novel and leaned back on the couch.

"Okay." Charlie said, once again attempting a smile as she led her girlfriends up the stairs to her bedroom. Jessica sat on Charlie's unmade bed and Marla sat on Theodore's empty chair.

"So, how was your first shift?" Marla asked flatly.

"It was good. I'm really tired, but it was good."

Marla and Jessica exchanged glances.

"What?"

"Carlton saw you on the bus with that nightguard." Jessica crossed her arms. Charlie immediately tensed. How had she missed him?

"Umm…" She bit her lip and sat down beside Jessica. "I saw him there and thought I'd say hi."

"Charlie, he heard you talking about Freddy's. You went back, didn't you?" Jessica's tone scared her.

"No! I mean, yes, we _were_ going, but we didn't."

"Then where _did_ you go?" Marla demanded. Charlie sighed deeply, the beat of her heart accelerating.

"We went to Stevie's, just to talk about it. That's all!" She exclaimed. "You can't tell John, he'll freak out."

"I'm pretty sure he already knows." Jessica pulled out her phone and opened her messages.

 _I think she's with him. She hung up on me and sounded really nervous._ Charlie swallowed.

"Keep reading." Jessica urged in the same low tone as before.

 _I think she's going to break up with me._

"That's ridiculous!" Charlie threw the phone back at Jessica. "All I said was that I was still mad at him."

"You're mad at him for being worried and not wanting you to go off with a man you just met? Charlie, _that's_ ridiculous! He could have attacked you." Jessica's voice rose.

"But he _didn't._ He told me things, secrets about Freddy's beyond anything I could have imagined!" Charlie felt a pang of renewed dread as she spoke.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Marla inquired angrily. Charlie looked away, the feeling of dread growing in her stomach. _My dad is a murderer's accomplice._

"...I can't tell you."

"Charlie, we're your friends!" Jessica shouted indignantly.

"How do I know you won't go blabbing to my dad? That's what _John_ did!"

"Charlie, he was trying to protect you."

"I don't _need_ to be protected! I've been protected from the truth my whole life, and it almost _killed_ me!" There was an immediate, shocked silence. Charlie clapped a hand over her mouth.

"...What?" Marla's voice was hushed. Jessica's jaw was slack as she stared at her friend. Charlie swallowed hard.

"Go."

"What?" Marla said again.

"Just… go."

"Charlie, what…?"

"I SAID, GO!" Charlie fell onto the bed and hugged her pillow, facing away from her friends. She heard both girls get up but they lingered- she could feel them staring.

"Charlie, you've been acting all crazy since we went to Freddy's." Jessica sat back down on the bed.

"Please… just leave me alone." Fresh tears streamed down Charlie's raw cheeks. The mattress' springs bounced back as Jessica got up.

"Okay, Charlie. We'll leave you alone." Marla said softly.

"Yeah. Sorry to bother you." Jessica said sarcastically. Charlie broke into a sobbing fit the second they walked out the door. Her head was pounding again, her bones ached, and her stomach churned. She stifled her sobs at the sound of her aunt coming up the stairs.

"Charlie?"

She scrambled under the covers and pulled them over her head. Jen came in a second later and sat down on the bed. Charlie's lungs ached as she worked to slow her breathing.

"Honey, are you okay?" Aunt Jen pulled the covers down and Charlie curled into a fetal position. She felt a cool thumb stroke her temple for several seconds before pausing. It moved to the scar on her forehead and she winced. Her aunt sighed and stood up after several minutes.

"I love you, Charlie."

Charlie sobbed again as soon as the sound of Jen's footsteps in the hallway faded. _I love you, Charlie._ Those words were spoken by a select few- John, Aunt Jen, and her father. She was loved, yet she felt alone. She'd felt alone for a long time.


	16. Chapter 16: Trapped

When Charlie woke up, it was pitch black outside. Her body still hurt and her eyes burned from the many tears she'd shed over the course of the previous night and that day. She kicked the covers off and sat on the edge of the bed, glancing at her phone. Zero missed calls, zero new messages. A pang of guilt struck her in the chest. She'd been incredibly unfair to Marla and Jessica, but they also couldn't know about William- she knew that they'd likely try to get Chief Clay involved, and she worried about possible retaliation. _I don't want them to get hurt._ She justified to herself, idley scrolling through her texts. She stopped on John's thread and let out a pained sigh.

 _I think she's going to break up with me._ No no no no. She couldn't lose him, especially not in the midst of all this chaos. She went into her directory and selected his contact. One ring, two rings, three rings, and then his voicemail. He'd declined the call. She bit her lower lip hard before speaking.

"Hey, please call me back when you get this. There's… a lot I need to tell you. Bye, I love you." She exhaled sharply. The smell of spaghetti wafted through the house and she realized that she was starving. She made her way down the stairs tentatively and paused on the landing. Her father was situated on the couch, reading the newspaper. Nonchalant, completely unaware that his twisted, dirty secrets were now exposed.

He spotted her and put down the paper.

"Hey there. You hungry?"

Charlie nodded and made her way down to the living room. He followed her into the kitchen and lingered in the doorway as she helped herself to a large portion of pasta and sauce. She sat down at the table and started to eat slowly.

"How were Marla and Jessica?"

"Fine." She sighed.

"Jen said there was some shouting. Did you have a fight?"

Charlie twirled some pasta around her fork.

"Sort of. I was just tired and they kept asking me questions."

"About?"

She put her fork down.

"Dad, I don't remember _anything_ about my car accident. That's _weird._ "

"It isn't, really. A lot of people have memory loss after head trauma."

"Yeah, but… I almost feel like I wasn't in a crash at all. How _did_ I hit my head? The airbag should've gone off."

Henry visibly tensed and attempted to play it off by walking to the fridge.

"Well, the Honda was pretty old. The officer who responded to the crash said that it didn't deploy." _Enough of your bullshit!_ Charlie took another bite of pasta in order to hold her tongue.

"You want some milk?"

"...Yeah." She said defeatedly. Her anger was surging but she remembered Michael's words. _You have to stay close to your father._ It was time to drop it, at least for now.

"Do you have another shift tonight? I don't remember." Her father set a full glass in front of her.

"No, but I have one tomorrow night. I'll be at Junior's tomorrow during the day."

"Well, that's good, because I have a few interviews lined up."

"What for?"

"Oh, mainly waitstaff. But there's also a new experimental position."

"Experimental?"

Henry looked ponderous.

"I'm hiring a technician. Someone else to help with the upkeep of the robots."

Charlie choked on her milk.

"What?"

"Like I said, it's an experimental position-"

"Are you _kidding_ me?"

"About what?" Her father looked bemused.

Charlie wiped her mouth and glared at him.

" _I've_ been wanting to work with them for _years,_ but you always told me no. Now you're going to hire someone?"

"Charlie, you don't have the proper training-"

"Only because you won't teach me! I ask and ask but you always have some sort of excuse!"

"Wait a minute, young lady. You know how busy we are."

"Yeah, but…!"

 _A rift between the two of you gives my father the perfect opportunity for extortion._ Charlie looked away, her breathing rigid. Henry sighed.

"Tell you what, when I'm training this new person in, you can sit in on the sessions. But understand, Charlie, you are not to interfere and you are to treat them with respect. I only want to say this once."

"But… all I can do is watch?"

"That's the way it has to be. I think I'm being more than generous here."

Charlie had to suppress a scoff, but she nodded. It was better than nothing. Her phone rang and she leapt out of her chair when she saw the caller ID.

"I have to take this." She ran into the living room.

"Hey!"

"Hey," John said flatly, "I was eating dinner."

"Oh. I'm sorry." There was a pause.

"Charlie, tell me the truth. You were with that night guard the other night, weren't you?"

"Look, all we did was talk about-" She recalled that her father was just a few feet away and dashed out to the front yard. "...About Freddy's. That's all we did, we just talked about it. We didn't go back."

"But you went behind my back after I told you not to see him. Charlie, that hurts." There was another, more painful pause. "Are you going to see him again?"

"If I say yes… are you done with me?" She bit her lip hard. John sighed.

"That depends. Are you done with _me_?"

"No! Why would you- listen to me. He gave me answers. All the answers I ever wanted." She was getting tearful all over again.

"So you don't have to see him again, then."

"No- I mean, _yes_ I do. John, things are complicated. I can't even begin to describe-"

"Complicated? It's not complicated. Everything was fine until you dropped out of school. Then you started questioning every little thing and obsessing over the past, over things that had absolutely nothing to do with you-"

"This has _everything_ to do with me! ...I wasn't in a car accident, I was attacked and-" The words were out before she could stop them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?"

"I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but I remember everything now. I never even _got_ in my car. Dad lied about the car crash so that-"

"Charlie, _what_ are you talking about?" John's tone was indecipherable.

"Come down this weekend."

"What?! Charlie, I-"

"If you come down this weekend, I'll explain everything, but you can't say _anything_ to _anyone._ You _have_ to trust me!"

"Charlie, I can't come down! Not right now! I have finals coming up, I have a term paper to finish- this will have to wait until break."

"John, it can't! By the time you get back… something might happen."

" _What_ might happen?"

A blue car turned onto her street and Charlie dove behind a large tree.

"Something bad. Something very bad."

The car whizzed past the house and she relaxed.

"You _do_ sound pretty scared."

"Please… even if it's only for a night."

"What about your dad? I know he _really_ doesn't want to see me right now."

"He thinks I have a second job, at Stevie's. It's kind of a long story. But I can meet you there or at your house."

John sighed loudly.

"Okay. One night. You explain everything. I mean _everything,_ Charlie."

"Yes, everything. I promise. But you can't-"

"I won't say anything to anyone. You can trust me."

"You can trust me, too."

Silence.

"I'll see you Saturday night, okay?"

"Okay... I love you."

"...I love you too. Bye." _Click._

Charlie collapsed against the tree, breathing in the cold November air.

"Charlie? Come on inside, you're going to catch a cold." Her father called out to her from the front door. She immediately ran to him, stuffing her phone in her sweatshirt pocket.

"Who was that? You were out here a long time."

"Oh, um, Jessica! We were just talking things out."

"Oh, that's good. I hoped you girls would work it out."

"Yeah. I'm going to finish dinner and then I'm going back to bed. I'm still tired."

"Oh, Jen said you didn't take-"

"Take my pills. I know." She'd been surprisingly dream-free that afternoon. If only it would last.

* * *

"You'll be dead by the time you're thirty if you keep _this_ up." Charlie said to Michael as he lit his third cigarette of the evening. They were standing outside of Freddy and Friends', biding their time before they had to face the rogue animatronics inside. He shrugged.

"Only if Freddy doesn't kill me first."

"Which one?"

"Um… the shiny one."

"Toy Freddy." She giggled.

They'd been cracking jokes all night- it was a strange coping mechanism but highly effective. Sure, Charlie's stomach was churning and her heart was pumping faster than normal, but she was smiling. She hadn't yet told him about her intentions to come clean to John- she didn't know how he'd react and now was not the time to bring it up.

"Well… it's time." Michael dropped the cigarette and stomped it out. "Last one until 6 am. Can't smoke in there- that Freddy head is probably flammable."

"Freddy head! I don't have a head!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Yes, you do. That old Bonnie is still there." Michael unlocked the front door, triggering the door chime as they set foot inside. Charlie stared at the Toy Animatronics in the distance. Motionless, wide-eyed. It was hard to believe that they'd be up close and personal in twenty minutes, give or take. Her pace increased as she passed the music box and she stared straight ahead, focusing on the closet by the main stage.

"I'll wait here." Michael leaned against one of the confetti-covered tables. Charlie nodded absentmindedly and stepped into the tiny room. Spring Bonnie was right where she'd left him, and his large green eyes gazed at her as she approached. It was as if he were saying, _I remember you._

 _I remember you, too._ She took a deep breath and gingerly removed the rabbit's fabric head, leaving its bare endohead exposed. The suit was still in mascot mode- the animatronics wouldn't be able to stuff them into it if, heaven forbid, they were attacked. _Good thing I lost that crank… or not._ She put the head back on the rabbit- the suit being in mascot mode meant all the springlocks were activated, including the ones in the head. She had to crank them back in order to fit her head inside. She let out a sigh of bewilderment, scanning the room for something she could use in place of the crank.

There was a crowbar sitting on the table behind her.

" _Use ONLY this crank to activate and deactivate the springlocks. Using anything else could damage the mechanism."_ She recalled her father saying to a group of employees in training. _Sorry, dad._ She put the crowbar into the cranking mechanism and gave it a firm turn. The springlocks creaked in protest and the whole animatronic shook, but they retreated into the suit nonetheless.

" _Charlie, I don't want to see you playing around these suits. I mean it, Charlie." Henry pulled a loose springlock out of his pocket and she jumped back as it recoiled, making a metallic boing sound. "See? These can really hurt you."_

" _Okay, daddy."_

Charlie gazed at the rabbit for a minute before stepping back into the dining room. She put the head on and stumbled forward- it was heavier than it looked. Michael laughed out loud. It was the first time she'd heard him really laugh- he tended to chuckle.

"You'll get used to it. Come on." He gestured for her to follow him. She removed the golden head and tucked it under her arm, glancing at the Toy Animatronics one last time.

"No doors." She remarked mostly to herself as they walked down the main corridor to the office. Her father had wanted to go with a modern look to match the modern animatronics. The other location, Freddy Fazbear's, had metal security doors that could be locked from inside the office. He had never explained why they were needed, but Charlie had a few ideas.

"Yeah. Greg told me it's because the dayside security guy needs to be accessible to the customers at all times." Michael sighed, plopping down on the desk chair.

"Yeah, that was dad's idea… I know why he wanted it that way now." An open floor plan and an accessible security guard meant that nobody could get away with anything malicious. Yet they had. _He_ had. Charlie spotted a folding chair sitting in the corner and scooted it next to him, holding her mask on her lap. She stared at the monitor in front of them with bewilderment.

"Twelve cameras…" She spoke to herself again.

"...And ten animatronics." Michael grimaced. He clicked through the feed with finesse and stopped on the prize corner camera. "You know, I _really_ don't like that puppet. It's so…"

"Creepy." They said together.

"Yeah, my dad was pretty proud of it. It's even more advanced than the Toy Animatronics." She studied the "Wind Music Box" Button. "Um… what happens if you _don't_ wind up the music box?"

"I don't know and I don't want to find out." Michael selected the button and held the mouse pointer over it even though the indicator showed that it was fully wound.

"It's strange that they don't use the autowind feature at night." Charlie observed.

"There's an autowind feature? Why didn't you say so? Go turn it on!"

"I don't know how to activate it- I never went anywhere near that thing. It was at both diners and I begged my dad to get rid of it when he opened this location." She sighed. "He was too proud of it, though. I mean, I guess it _is_ kind of cool that it can hand out little presents."

Michael nodded absentmindedly. _11:56 pm,_ the computer's clock read.

"...So do you have any idea why they don't move until midnight?" He asked. His tone had shifted- it was now serious.

"It's part of the docking problem, if I had to guess. Their internal clocks could be messed up, too."

"These things have internal clocks?"

"Yeah. It's so they say "Good Morning" or "Good Evening" accordingly. It's a feature my dad was able to implement even in the diner models. Not Fredbear and Spring Bonnie, though."

"God, your dad is a regular genius, isn't he?"

Charlie laughed.

"I suppose you _could_ call him that."

 _11:58 pm._ She exhaled and played with one of Spring Bonnie's ears. Michael took a swig of coffee from the thermos he'd brought in and offered it to her. She took a small sip, wrinkling her nose at the bitterness. She now knew the following about Michael Afton- he was a black coffee drinker and a chain smoker, liked soap operas (one in particular, called "The Immortal and the Restless" was his absolute favorite), and he was always hungry. Despite the latter, he was relatively thin. She wished _her_ metabolism was that good.

 _11:59 pm._

"Here. So you can look in the vents." Michael handed her a large flashlight. "Oh, it's very important that you shine it down the hallway occasionally. One of our "friends" likes to hang out there in particular."

"Who?"

"That old Foxy."

Charlie swallowed. Foxy had always been the creepier of the bunch in her eyes- she'd had nightmares about him for most of her life. Michael began cycling through the camera feeds and she shined the flashlight into the vents on either side of them. Nothing yet.

"Huh. No call tonight." Michael muttered.

"Call?"

"When I started working here, I'd get a call every night from some guy. I'm pretty sure he's an assistant manager or something. He'd give me advice and he explained how things work around here." _Clunk clunk clunk._ Charlie's heart skipped a beat as she pointed the flashlight at the right vent. Toy Bonnie was poking his head out.

"It's Toy Bonnie!"

Michael had the spare Freddy head on in seconds while Charlie fumbled with Spring Bonnie's head. She managed it just as Toy Bonnie sprung up from the vent. He wasn't interested in Michael at all, choosing to focus on her instead.

 _Yeah, yeah, I'm a new animatronic. Please go away._ She thought. _Clunk clunk clunk._ The blue rabbit retreated after an agonizing thirty seconds. She only removed her head when Michael nudged her and pushed the flashlight back into her hand.

"Apparently I'm a very interesting animatronic." She whispered.

"Oh yes. Hey, thanks for taking some of the heat off me tonight."

She kicked him under the table and aimed the flashlight down the corridor. Foxy was still absent, but two red eyes stared her down. _Bonnie._ She felt a pang of sadness- if only her father could have retrofitted her giant Theodore. He was a literal shell of himself, missing an arm and his smiling face. _Clunk clunk clunk._ Michael let out a hitched breath beside her. She glanced at the monitor and saw an equally disheveled Chica in the vent, her purple eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Get ready." Michael said under his breath. He switched to the other vent camera, where Chica's toy variant was also making her way to the duo. She was missing her beak and her blue eyes were empty black holes, save for two pinprick-sized white pupils. Charlie wondered where her beak was. It was detachable, a questionable design choice on her father's part. _Clunk clunk CLUNK!_ Michael briefly wound up the music box before throwing the Freddy head back on. She followed suit with her own head, suppressing a gasp when the old Chica appeared in front of her. She, too, was very much enamoured with Charlie.

The animatronic chicken cocked her head to the side as she studied the girl. It was almost cute. She was gone much faster than Toy Bonnie and Charlie relaxed her tensed shoulders as she removed her mask.

"Flashlight." Michael reminded her in a whisper. Now Foxy was in the hallway, his pointed jaws wide open. His hook was raised, poised to attack. Charlie swallowed again, much harder this time. He disappeared and she glanced at the time. _12:07 am._ It was going to be a long night. She looked into the left vent- Toy Chica hadn't yet arrived.

"Hello?" A childlike voice filled the empty hallways.

"I sure hate _that_ little pest." Michael muttered.

"Hi!"

 _Clunk clunk clunk. Clunk clunk clunk._ The noise was coming from both sides and both Bonnie and Foxy were in the hallway. Charlie's adrenaline kicked in as she and Michael donned their masks. There was Toy Chica, and then Old Chica again. Once again, Charlie was the point of interest. _How did our murder weapon get in here?_ They were probably thinking. On and on it went, with animatronics coming and going at a steady pace. By 1 am, Charlie was nauseous and burning up. She was still wide awake, though, running on coffee and adrenaline.

She and Michael weren't speaking now, even in the occasional merciful moments of silence. By 2am, she was disassociating. She slurped down some more coffee and shifted in her hard metal chair.

"You okay?" Michael inquired, nudging her slightly.

"Yeah." She rasped. _No, no I am not._ She longed for the cool November air- the fan on the desk in front of her provided little to no relief when she was sweating so vigorously. The phone rang and both of them jumped.

"Should… should we answer that?"

"No time." Michael wound the music box for the umpteenth time. The answering machine picked up after just a few rings.

"Hello, Michael and... Charlie. Dear, sweet Charlie…" William's voice filled the office. Michael and Charlie looked to each other, and then the phone, in horror. "I realize that now might not be the best time for a chat, but this couldn't wait."


	17. Chapter 17: Deadlocked

"You think you're clever, hmm? I _knew_ you'd run the other way. Make no mistake, I am a very patient man. I _will_ get my hands on you, and when I do you'll be begging for mercy with every dying breath."

"Stay focused." Michael whispered, turning back to the computer screen. Charlie resumed her flashlight duties with a shaking hand. _Clunk clunk clunk!_

"It's cute that you two found each other." William continued with a chuckle, "You're very much alike. Stubborn, determined… haunted. Haunted by the past. It's quite sad, really- you're digging up ancient history, and for what? Closure?"

Bonnie arrived and the two threw on their costume heads in the nick of time.

"Closure… there's no closure to be gained. You're still a murderer, Michael. You make _me_ look like a saint!"

Michael let out a shuddering breath as he removed the Freddy head.

"Stay focused." Charlie reached for his hand but he pulled away, staring straight ahead into the dark corridor. "Michael!"

"And you, _Charlotte._ I'm willing to own up to my mistakes- you were one of my first. I'm not sure what stopped me from slitting that pretty little throat all those years ago, but it won't stop me again. This time, I'm choosing _you_."

Charlie gasped.

" _Charlotte."_ Michael, having regained his composure, put a hand on her knee. She whipped her head around, causing pain. "Charlotte, he's winning right now. We can't let him." She nodded dismissively.

"I'm sincerely hoping that our friends don't do you in before I can get to you. I want nothing more than to see your blood on my hands." William continued, "Charlie, my dear, the last time is going to look like a mercy killing compared to what I have planned now. As for you, _Michael_ … well, I haven't decided on _your_ demise. Not yet. I can assure you, however, that the pain you'll feel will be beyond comprehension."

This time, Michael didn't pull away when Charlie reached for his hand.

"Have a good night- it's one of your last." _Click._ The office fell silent except for the low hum of the computer and the whir of the desk fan. The onslaught of animatronics had temporarily ceased- it was as though they, too, were comprehending William's words.

"...Check the vents." Michael said finally, clicking through the cameras again. Charlie had to shake her head slightly in order to get her mind moving again. _This time I'm choosing you. Last time is going to look a mercy killing._ Those were the words that stuck with her, hanging over her head like a giant weight held up by a single string. "Charlotte, the vents." Michael said urgently.

"There's n-nothing." She stammered. It felt like all the oxygen was draining from the room.

"Charlotte, he's gotten into your head. You have to fight it."

"I know. I know." She gasped. Toy Freddy was now lingering in the doorway, staring the duo down with wide blue eyes. _2:10 am._ Charlie choked down more coffee and stared right back.

"Don't make eye contact!" Michael hissed. She was going to cry. She was so sweaty, so nauseous, so uncomfortable. But getting up and leaving was out of the question. Besides, he needed her. _They needed each other._ Pushing William's phone call to the back of her mind, she focused on watching the vents and the hallway.

 _3 am._ She felt dizzy and had to remove her sweatshirt. Mangle was watching them from the office doorway, her eyes glowing white. Foxy looked ready to charge, his hook in the air. _Clunk clunk clunk!_

"Hello?" _Clunk clunk clunk!_ Charlie looked into the left vent to see Balloon Boy's round face leering at them.

"What does he do anyway? He's too small to attack us."

"Don't know, don't want to find out." Michael's voice was modulated underneath the Freddy head.

 _4 am._ The coffee was gone. Michael stood up briefly to stretch and she followed suit. He left the Freddy head on as a precaution and she kept her light on Foxy in the hallway. He hadn't moved since 3 am. Mangle made her way into the vents and emitted her horrific static while old Freddy made his first appearance in the hallway. Charlie felt a little sad looking at the old robots- she had mostly happy memories of them and had even hugged them a time or two. She wondered if they would somehow recognize her, but she didn't want to test anything.

 _5:55 am._ She glanced at Michael. He looked exactly like she did- tearful, sweaty, and red in the face. Things had drastically slowed down and she let out a shuddering breath.

"No. Don't let your guard down. Last time I did that, I got bitten." He panted. _5:57 am. Clunk clunk clunk!_ He warily clicked onto the right vent camera. Toy Bonnie. It was somewhat fitting- he was their first animatronic of the night, and he was most likely their last. They threw on their masks and he skated by. _Twang!_ Charlie gasped and yanked the mask off her head just before the springlocks within it snapped into place. She held it in front of her face as a last resort and Toy Bonnie paused directly in front of her.

What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion- the rabbit lunged forward, causing her to fall off her chair. She looked up to see him towering over her. _Gotcha!_ His cartoonish green eyes seemed to say. He snatched her wrist and dragged her across the tile floor in a manner similar to how she'd dragged Theodore behind her as a child. She screamed, although the sound was weak. Michael had stood up behind the desk but he was frozen in place.

 _Okay, okay, it's almost 6 am. He'll reset._

Charlie attempted to grab a table leg in the dining room as Toy Bonnie dragged her through it but only succeeded in bringing the flimsy table down. Toy Chica and Toy Freddy watched from the show stage as she was dragged towards her demise, their smiles seemingly wider than usual. She hadn't reset Spring Bonnie's springlocks- the horrible realization struck her as Toy Bonnie opened the door to the closet by the stage.

She had the peace of mind to remain still as she was shoved into the waiting suit- the absolute worst thing she could do was squirm. The animatronic rabbit paused once she was situated- he was looking for the suit's head. Charlie had to hold back a laugh of relief. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, her captor turned to look at her with what seemed to be a warning glare. _You got lucky this time._ He stalked off and she slowed her breathing, taking care not to breathe on the springlocks around her neck.

Michael rushed in a minute later, visibly relieved to see her.

"Thank God the head was in the office." Charlie choked.

"Shh.. let me get you out of this." Michael's voice was shaking as he examined the suit.

She racked her brain trying to remember how her father and his employees had managed it. She saw only one solution, and it was pretty dangerous. But she was desperate.

"Okay, we're going to tip the suit forward and then you can pull me out." She said calmly, although her heart was pounding.

"Are you sure?"

"No. But I don't see any other way to do it."

Michael's forehead wrinkled in worry.

"It'll be okay. You have to trust me." Charlie started to wiggle her arms out of the suit and the springlocks creaked warningly. They both gritted their teeth.

"Okay…" Michael hesitantly took a hold of the suit and tilted it forward. It took some careful maneuvering on Charlie's part, but soon she was laying on her belly.

 _Creak!_

"We have to be quick." She said, choking back tears. Getting any on the springlocks meant instant death.

"On three?"

"Yeah."

"One...two...THREE!" Michael yanked her forward. There was a loud crash and then a scream. Charlie's left leg had gotten caught and was trapped in the iron vice of the springlocks.

"THE CROWBAR!" She wailed. Michael scrambled to his feet and retrieved the metal object. "PUT… PUT IT IN THE HOLE BY THE-" _Creeeaaaaakkkk!_ The pressure on her leg was relieved seconds later and she threw herself forward, sobbing. Michael dropped the tool with a clatter and ran out of the room, returning with a first aid kit a minute later. She wailed and kicked her bloodied leg when he attempted to touch it, her fingernails digging at the tile floor.

"Well, you can move it. That's good."

"Don't touch it." She whimpered.

"I have to, love." Michael said calmly, handing her a piece of gauze. "Bite this if you have to." Charlie did as she was told, sobbing and seething as he cleaned the massive wound and wrapped a bandage around it. The initial shock had worn off and the pain surged, but she forced herself to sit up.

"How… how bad is it?"

"...Pretty bad. I can't imagine what those springlocks would've done to your whole body." Michael swallowed hard.

"Oh my Godddd, I can't go home like this." She buried her face in her hands. "I can't lie about this, dad will see right through it!"

"We'll think of something. For now, we have to get out of here before Greg comes." Michael helped her up and she leaned into him, too tired to care about the stench coming off both of them.

"What about the table?" She commented as they walked back through the dining room.

"The robots knock stuff over all the time. One time I came out here in the morning and all those fake presents over there were scattered." Michael said nonchalantly.

They walked back to the office and he handed her her sweatshirt. "I'm going to put this back. You sit for a minute." He picked up the Spring Bonnie head.

Her head shook no on its own. Sitting back down in that hellhole was the very last thing she wanted to do, even without the animatronics coming for her. Michael sighed and tucked the head under his arm, allowing her to lean against his other side. It took them ages to get back to the closet, but when they did she was able to reset Spring Bonnie despite her handicap.

It was snowing outside and she was grateful for the feeling of the cool flakes on her skin.

"I hate to say it, but you should probably get your leg looked at. That suit is pretty old and rusty." Michael commented. Charlie opened her mouth to protest, but she knew he was right. She couldn't remember her last tetanus shot.

"Okay, but how the hell do I explain what happened?"

"Just say that you cut yourself on a piece of rusty metal. Simple enough."

"But-"

A police car pulled up next to the duo, and Charlie's breath caught in her throat.

"Charlie?" Chief Clay leaned out of the driver's side window.

"H-Hey, Chief Clay."

"What are you doing out here at this hour?"

"I was just… umm… you see, I work at Stevie's now and I just got off. This… this is my friend Fritz. He.. he wanted to meet up with me."

Chief Clay frowned, his gaze fixated on Michael.

"But, um.. when I was working at Stevie's I cut my leg on a piece of metal while taking out the trash." Charlie interjected. "We were just heading to the bus stop to go to the emergency room."

"Is that why you're limping? I pulled over to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah. I'm… I'm fine. Mich- Fritz was saying I should get it looked at because it was rusty metal."

"Sounds pretty serious. Let me give you a ride."

"O-okay. Come on, Fritz."

"Oh, um… actually, I have to get home. My.. my dog needs to go out." Michael said quickly, "Call me later and let me know you're okay."

The last thing Charlie wanted to do was leave him, but she was too tired to protest.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

She sat down in the passenger's seat of the squad car and waved to Michael. He gave her a half-hearted smile before walking towards the bus stop.

"Fritz, huh? He go to school with you?" Chief Clay said casually.

"Umm… yeah. He was in our class." She laughed lightly, but she could see that he wasn't convinced.

"I didn't remember him, either. But he came into Stevie's one night and we got to talking."

"How long have you been working at Stevie's?"

"Only about a week. I work from 10 at night to 6 am, when it's pretty dead."

"I usually stop by once or twice a week at night and I haven't seen you yet. Were you in the back doing dishes or something?" _God dammit._

"Yeah. I mean, I'm a waitress primarily but when it's slow I'm doing other things. Kind of like Junior's."

A silence settled over the two of them and Charlie stared out the window, trying to distract herself. The pain in her leg had increased tenfold and she wondered if she'd fractured a small bone. By the time they pulled up to the emergency room entrance, she was in tears again. Chief Clay opened the squad car door for her and she stood up only to stumble immediately.

"Whoa!" He caught her. A passing nurse stopped immediately.

"Does she need a wheelchair?"

"Yes, I think so." Chief Clay held a sobbing Charlie firmly against his side until the nurse came back.

"I...I just want to sleep." She sobbed.

"We'll take care of you, sweetie. Let's get you checked in, okay?" The nurse said in a cooing voice.

"What's going on this morning?" The tired receptionist asked.

"I...I… I cut my leg on r-r-rusty metal."

"It's pretty bad. She can't walk." Chief Clay said. He bent down and squeezed her shoulders. "I'm going to call your dad, okay? Hang tight." He was gone before she could protest.

"Okay, I just need to see your ID and then we'll take you over to the waiting room." The receptionist nodded and fished her ID out of her wallet. Her hands were shaking violently and she felt like she was going to have a heart attack. Once she was situated in the waiting room, it only took 15 minutes for her father to show up. Overwhelmed by pain and fear, she threw her arms around him, soaking his shirt with tears.

"Shh… it's okay, sweetheart. I'm here."

"I didn't think it was that bad at first, but then she fell getting out of my car." Chief Clay said, adjusting his hat.

"Thank you for getting her here. I really appreciate it." Henry stood up and smiled at the officer.

"Oh, no problem." He bent down to Charlie's level. "You're going to be okay. Hang in there."

She nodded although she was very much unconvinced. Once Chief Clay left, her father sat down in a nearby chair and pressed his hands together.

"How did this happen again?"

"I was taking out the trash and I slipped on some ice. There was this rusty piece of metal on the ground and I cut myself." Charlie rehearsed. Henry nodded slowly.

"Must be a pretty deep cut if it's hurting you this much."

"Charlotte Emily?" A nurse stepped out of the back.

"Here." Henry stood up and pushed Charlie through the swinging doors. Her eyes were growing heavier and heavier, but she didn't dare close them. She was certain that she'd see something horrible. At least the pain, horrific as it was, kept her awake.

"Okay, honey, we're going to have to take this bandage off so we can take a look at the wound." The nurse said once she was situated on the sterile white hospital bed. She reached for her father's hand, already a whimpering mess. He squeezed hers tightly, muttering words of comfort that she couldn't comprehend.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!"

The bandage came off and the nurse exhaled sharply. Charlie couldn't bring herself to look down, but she knew that what the nurse saw was far worse than a cut. Her father dropped her hand and let out a shuddering breath.

"Get the doctor in here." The nurse said to her coworker, who dashed out of the room.

"Dad… I- it's not-"

"What's going on?" The doctor rushed into the room.

"I-I've never seen a wound like this before." The nurse stammered.

"I have." Henry's voice was low and steady. Charlie looked up and caught his furious gaze. There was no hiding anything anymore.


	18. Chapter 18: Revelations

Henry was silent as Charlie's wounds were cleaned and redressed.

"Dad." She reached for his hand but he crossed his arms, staring straight ahead. She choked back tears.

"Alright, Miss Emily. We're just going to give you a tetanus booster and then you can be on your way." Dr. Kessler said, taping the bandage into place.

"O-okay." She choked. Her father let out a long sigh. Dr. Kessler seemed to sense the animosity in the room, hurrying out. The silence that ensued was unbearable to Charlie and she let out a sigh of her own. Her father hadn't gone into specifics with the medical staff, simply saying that she'd caught her leg in a "type of iron vice" he worked with.

"Dad." Charlie tried again. He turned her way at last, his expression unreadable. She lost her nerve and stared down at her hands.

"Charlotte Marie…" His tone scared her- it was very similar to the one he used when disciplining one of his staff. He appeared to lose his gumption as well, choosing to stare at the blank TV on the wall. _Ping!_ Her phone chimed in her pocket. She reached for it slowly, half expecting him to yank it out of her hand. Much to her surprise he continued to stare at the TV.

 _Where are we meeting this weekend?_ John had typed. Charlie glanced at her father one more time before typing back.

 _I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'm even more grounded than I was before._ She sighed and stared at the TV as well. _Ping!_

 _Charlie, what did you do now?_

 _Something really, really dumb. You're going to hate me, too._ A few minutes passed with no response. A nurse entered the room, bearing discharge papers and a large needle. Somehow the needle hurt just as much as her leg, but her father still refused to hold her hand. Much to her surprise, he held her close as they walked out to the car a few minutes later. She'd expected him to leave her limping behind him at a snail's pace. The ride home seemed a million times longer than usual- but she soon realized that they weren't going home. Henry pulled into a gas station parking lot and turned to look at her, his gaze still fiery.

"Which location was it?"

"What?"

"The animatronic, Charlotte. Where is it?" He yelled. _Figure it out yourself!_ She wanted to yell back, _YOU probably put it there!_

"Fr-Freddy and Friends'." She said instead. Henry gunned it out of the parking lot, nearly colliding with another car. _Please don't let him find out about Michael._ Charlie thought, staring out the window as the world rushed by. The parking lot at Freddy and Friends' was nearly empty when they arrived 10 minutes later. She started to unbuckle her seatbelt but her father snatched her wrist.

"You stay _right here._ "

She nodded, biting her lower lip to keep from crying again. She watched him disappear into the pizzeria, a renewed sense of dread filling her chest. _Ping!_

 _You went back, didn't you?_ John wrote.

 _Ping!_

 _Are you doing okay?_ Michael wrote. She replied to Michael first.

 _No. Dad knows. We're at Freddy and Friends' right now- he's looking for Spring Bonnie._ She went back to John's message.

 _I'm not going to lie to you. I did. But you HAVE to let me explain everything. I'll let you know where we're meeting soon. I love you._

 _Ping!_ Michael.

 _Remember what I said._

 _Ping!_ John.

 _...Fine._

Several minutes passed, then a half-hour. When Henry finally emerged, he was red in the face. He got back into the driver's seat and slammed the door, speeding out of the parking lot once again. He didn't say a word to her, his eyes narrow and focused on the road in front of him. When they got home Aunt Jen opened the front door, holding a mug of coffee. Charlie limped past her and towards the stairs.

"Charlotte Marie, where do you think you're going?" Her father snapped.

"I just want to sleep." Charlie pleaded.

"Not yet." He pointed to a cushion on the living room couch. She sighed dejectedly and sat down. Aunt Jen sat next to her and her father sat on the nearby armchair.

"So, young lady, how did you end up in that suit?"

Aunt Jen's hand flew to her mouth.

"You don't mean-"

"Jen, please." Henry leaned forward in the chair, his hands clasped together.

"Toy Bonnie got me." She whimpered.

"Got you?"

Charlie wiped her eyes.

"He came into the office, knocked me down, and dragged me to the-"

"What were you doing in the office in the first place?" Henry's voice rose. "I told you never to go back. There's absolutely no reason to."

Charlie stared into the nearby fireplace, watching the flames lick the logs.

"Charlotte, are you listening to me?"

"The children. That's the reason." She said calmly after several seconds. Her father looked as though she'd slapped him in the face.

"What?"

"The children William murdered. They're haunting the robots."

Aunt Jen gasped.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Henry stood up and stared daggers into her. Charlie let out a shuddering breath.

"William Afton. Your old business partner? The man who tried to beat me to death?" The silence that filled the room was heavy.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I remember him, dad." She stood up. "I also remember the first group of missing children- my classmates. I remember Cassidy. I remember-"

"Charlie, that's enough." Aunt Jen said shakily.

"No." Charlie clenched her fists. "Dad, I remember how you were so damn desperate to get away from what you did-"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Henry repeated, turning towards the crackling fireplace.

"William murdered those kids, and _you_ cleaned up after him. Each and every time. And everytime you did, you would try to start over with a new location and new animatronics."

"Charlie, you stop this right now!" Aunt Jen cried.

"Stop what? Telling the truth?"

"Charlotte, I don't know who put these ridiculous ideas in your head-" Henry began, still staring into the fireplace.

"I'll tell you who put these "ridiculous" ideas in my head. Someone I can trust a lot more than you."

"Charlotte, listen to me. You need to leave this alone."

"Tell you what. I'll leave this alone once you tell me what that little invention of yours does. The one with the… "remnant injector"?"

 _WHAM!_ Henry punched the wall above the fireplace, leaving a spider web-like pattern.

"What _is_ remnant?"

"CHARLOTTE MARIE EMILY-!" Henry whirled around, thrusting a finger at her. His face was the reddest she'd ever seen it. She was getting scared, but she refused to cry. "IF YOU SAY ANOTHER WORD ABOUT THIS TO ME AGAIN, I'LL-I'LL-"

"KILL ME? WHY NOT? WHAT'S ONE MORE DEAD BODY?" She shouted.

"CHARLIE!" Aunt Jen shrieked.

 _SLAP!_ Charlie stumbled backwards, a hand pressed to her cheek. Her father towered over her, breathing hard through gritted teeth. It took a moment for her to comprehend what had just occurred, and when her mind caught up, she snatched his car keys off of the coffee table and ran to the front door, ignoring the searing pain in her leg.

"Charlotte? CHARLOTTE!" He darted after her but she managed to stay ahead of him, throwing herself into the driver's seat of his car. She tore away from the house without buckling her seatbelt, giving herself a bit of whiplash. Several disgruntled drivers blared their horns as she sped through a four-way intersection without stopping. She breezed her way through the sleepy town of Hurricane, sobbing the whole time. Once on the outskirts, she relaxed. It took her awhile to find the disheveled country road the bus had stopped at a few nights before, and when she did she cried tears of relief.

She let herself cry out in pain upon arriving at the red house situated in the middle of nowhere- she'd have to find some kind of pain relief soon. She'd barely gotten out of the car when the front door to the house swung open, revealing a dazed Michael.

"Charlotte?" He shielded his eyes against the sunlight. She threw herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Hey… hey… shhh..." He embraced her tightly until she pulled away, her eyes red and swollen.

"What happened?"

"My dad… he-he…" She couldn't bear to say it.

"Hey, come in. Come in and sit." Michael ushered her inside hurriedly. The living room was different from the last time she'd been there- a majority of the candles were gone and the old TV had flickered to life.

"You… you have electricity now?"

"Yeah, just got it and the plumbing turned back on. The hospital referred me to this program for low-income households. Good to have my soaps back."

Charlie plopped down on the couch and glanced at the TV- a distressed-looking blonde woman was yelling at a tall man in a black coat. Closer inspection revealed that the coat was a cloak and the man had fangs.

"I've seen this before. Don't they have a baby or something?"

"Yeah. It's good stuff." Michael switched off the TV. "But you need to tell me what happened."

He sat down next to her, picking a half-finished cigarette out of a nearby ashtray.

"Like I said, my dad knows. He saw the wound and… he made me tell him where Spring Bonnie was."

"Okay… then what?"

Charlie sighed and tucked several strands of brown hair behind one ear.

"We started fighting and I… I told him everything I knew."

"Charlotte…" Michael pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I know, I know. But I was just so mad, and so fed up with his bullshit and lies. After I asked him about that machine, he got _really_ mad and…" She buried her face in her hands.

"And what?" Michael put a hand on her shoulder. She broke yet again. She could still see her father's face in her mind- angry, unthinking… the face of a monster.

"Charlotte, did he… hurt you?"

She nodded and Michael took in a sharp breath.

"Goddammit."

"I'm not going back." She said pointedly. "I can't." Much to her surprise, her companion nodded.

"Absolutely not. Not now." He snuffed out his cigarette and lit another one.

"But knowing him… he'll call Chief Clay and have him find me."

"Chief Clay… is that the guy who picked you up this morning?"

Charlie nodded and Michael sighed.

"He doesn't like the looks of me, I can tell."

"What do you mean?"

"Literally, he doesn't like the looks of me. My mother always said the resemblance was striking, the one between me and my father. He remembers, Charlotte. I'm more than certain that he worked on the Freddy's cases."

She nodded again.

"Yeah, he did." She took a long look at him. The intense blue eyes, the angled jawline, the brown hair… he _did_ resemble William.

"Looks like we have to run."

"What?"

"I have to run away from my dad, we both have to run away from your dad _and_ Elizabeth… we have to get out of here."

"Bloody hell, Charlotte. You can't be serious."

"I am. If we stay here… who knows what'll happen."

Michael took another long drag off his cigarette, clearly lost in thought.

"But where will we go?"

"... I don't know. Seattle, maybe? My dad took me on roadtrips there all the time when I was a kid. It's a big city- they'll never find us there."

Michael turned to her, a smile stretching across his face. It was the first time she'd really seen him smile and she melted a little.

"You're out of your mind."

"I know. I'm kind of scaring myself right now." She admitted. Michael looked thoughtful.

"But you're right. You heard my father. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. When he catches up to us… well… I don't even want to think about it." They gazed into each other's eyes and she could clearly see his fear and apprehension. There was something else, too- something she couldn't put her finger on. She looked away and he put his hand on top of hers.

"Do you trust me?" He whispered.

"I do. More than anybody else right now." She whispered back.

"Good." He squeezed her hand and stood up. "We'll go, but first I want you to sleep."

Charlie nodded, a knot forming in her stomach. Her phone rang. _Dad_ , the caller ID read. She flipped it open and her thumb lingered over the green answer button.

"Who is it?" Michael asked uneasily.

Charlie took a deep breath and hit the red decline button.

"Him."

"Right." Michael bit his lip and turned the TV back on. "I'll be out here- you go sleep."

"Actually… I'd rather stay out here." She hugged herself. She couldn't be alone- the nightmares would start the second she closed her eyes. Michael looked ready to object but nodded a second later.

"At least let me get you a blanket." He disappeared into the hallway and Charlie laid down on the sunken couch, her heavy eyes closing instantly. A warm weight covered her body a minute later and she curled up into a fetal position. The couch sunk down again as Michael sat down on the other end with another sigh. She could feel his gaze, but it didn't bother her in the slightest. He was watching over her, protecting her. Her father had done the same when she was a kid, sometimes sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking her hair until she fell asleep.

Her phone kept vibrating and ringing in her pocket, but she was far too tired to even turn it off. She drifted off at last.

" _This time I'm choosing you." She was lying face down on a cold concrete floor, coughing up blood. William looked down on her, a menacing grin plastered on his face._

" _Where's your daddy now?" He sneered._

" _MICHAEL!" She called between coughing fits. "MICHAEL, HELP ME!"_

" _He's not here either. Believe me, I already dealt with him. Now there's just you."_

 _Spring Bonnie was behind William, slumped against a concrete wall. Something clicked in her subconscious, but she couldn't make it out. All she saw was gold, and then Sammy. She screamed in pain as William kicked her onto her side and knelt next to her. He drew his bloodied knife across her throat in one swift motion, then everything faded to white except for his leering face._

" _Charlotte!"_

She screamed. William turned into Michael, who was kneeling by her side. He was holding her hand again, looking frightened.

"It's me. You're okay." He said urgently. Charlie covered her eyes and let out a shuddering breath.

"I saw him." She rasped.

"Shh. It was just a dream." Michael massaged her hand.

"We have to get out of here." She whimpered.

"I know, love. We will."

She sat up. The winter sun was just starting to go down, projecting shadows onto the living room carpet. Her phone was still buzzing incessantly and she yanked it out of her pocket angrily. _John._

"Okay, I have to take this one." She threw her blanket off and hit the answer button. Michael looked perplexed but stood up. He went back to watching TV after giving her a wary look.

"...Hey."

"Charlie, _where are you?_ Your dad called me."

"I'm… I'm… somewhere safe. Don't worry."

"Don't worry?! Charlie, you scared the _hell_ out of us. Where. Are. You?"

"Do you remember the old ice skating rink? I'm out there."

John sighed loudly.

"I need an exact address."

"Umm…" She put her hand over the receiver. "What's the address of this place?"

"Who's asking?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"My boyfriend. I need to bring him here."

Michael leaned back, his forehead scrunching up. She sighed.

"We can trust him. I just need to see him and explain what's been going on."

"...3584 Magnolia Lane." He sighed.

"Charlie? Hello?"

"3584 Magnolia Lane. It's pretty far out of town, but you should be able to find the area on a map. Once you're out of town, there's this old country road. Take a right and follow it all the way down- there will be a creek and then the house is around there. It's red."

"...Okay. I should be there in 45 minutes or so- I already drove back to Hurricane."

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"You can't tell my dad, or anyone, where I am. Please." There was a long silence.

"Okay. But you have to promise me that you're safe."

"I promise. There's someone here with me-"

"The night guard?" John sighed again.

"Yes. I didn't have anywhere else to go!"

"Okay, okay. I'll be there soon."

"I love-" _Click._ Charlie sighed and buried her face in her hands. Michael remained focused on the TV, looking plainative.

"So… your boyfriend, huh? Is that the guy with the red hair?"

A laugh escaped her.

"No, not Carlton. The guy with brown hair. His name's John. I've known him since I was a kid, but we've been together for about three years now."

"Ah." Michael said, lighting another cigarette.

"Hey… you wouldn't happen to have a washing machine, would you? I need to wash my sweatshirt, at least."

"It doesn't work. But I might have something else for you to wear if you want to get out of those clothes."

She gave him a look but nodded slowly.

"Right. Be right back." Michael disappeared into the hallway again and reemerged with a small pile of shirts. "I know this is weird...but my mom's clothes are still here. I think they'd fit you."

"Hey, I'll take it." She was desperate to get out of her stinky, sweaty clothes. She took the pile of shirts into Michael's bedroom and threw off her sweatshirt and t-shirt. A lot of the shirts he'd given her were too frilly for her liking, but she settled on a white t-shirt printed with daisies. When she put it on, she discovered that she and Mrs. Afton were built very differently. Charlie had wide hips and the shirt exposed her stomach whenever she moved. She walked over to Michael's closet and found a purple dress shirt. He had others like it, obviously for his Freddy's uniform.

She put it on and did up only the bottom buttons, covering her exposed midriff. Michael did a double take when she walked back into the living room.

"The shirt was a little small. I… had to borrow this to cover up a little. I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all. I have plenty." He smiled and relief washed over her. She joined him on the couch again and tried to get into _The Immortal and the Restless,_ but there were many plot points she didn't get due to not watching it from the beginning. Michael gladly explained them, though.

"Wait, who's the guy in the blue again?"

"That's Stanley Black. He's a vampire hunter. Oh, and he's also in love with Clara."

There was a knock on the front door and they exchanged nervous glances.

"I'll get it." Charlie stood up and looked through the peephole to ensure it was John and that he was alone. "John!" She swung the door open and threw her arms around him. He embraced her back, much to her surprise.

"Thank God you're okay. Charlie, I was so worried." He pulled away and his eyes immediately trailed down to the bandage on her leg. "What happened there?"

"Just come in." She took his hand and pulled him into the house. Michael was standing up, looking plaintive again.

"John, this is Michael. Michael, this is John."

"I thought his name was Fritz." John raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story." Michael said meekly, extending his hand. John shook it slowly, his expression highly skeptical. The men looked at each other until Charlie cleared her throat.

"Well… I have a lot of explaining to do. _We_ have a lot of explaining to do."


	19. Chapter 19: Autophobia

_Autophobia: noun_

 _au· to· pho· bia | \ ˌȯt-ə-ˈfō-bē-ə \: A morbid fear of solitude_

* * *

"So." Charlie pressed her hands together.

"So." John said. He sat next to her on the couch while Michael sat in the nearby armchair.

"...Where would you like me to start? There's a lot." She said, picking at a loose thread on the couch.

"Well, you went back. Tell me why."

Charlie and Michael exchanged glances.

"There's a reason the animatronics are malfunctioning. A big one." She began.

"Okay…"

"First of all, this is going to sound absolutely crazy. But Michael can back me up." She laughed nervously but it didn't alleviate the strained atmosphere. Both men were staring at her. "...They're possessed. By the missing children."

"Okay." John said again, slower this time.

"The children didn't just go missing. They were murdered." Michael spoke up.

"...Really? I mean, I've heard rumors about that, but is it actually true?"

Charlie relaxed. His reaction wasn't what she was initially expecting, and that was a good thing. Michael nodded.

"The man who murdered them was my father, William Afton." Michael said mournfully.

"Dad's old business partner." Charlie interjected. She put a hand on John's knee.

"Your dad didn't have a partner."

"That's what I thought too, but it's true. And I remember him. Just a little, but I remember him."

Michael stood up and pulled the large photo album off of the bookshelf.

"It's all in here." He set it on Charlie's lap and she thumbed through it until she found the page with her father and William.

"See?"

John squinted.

"Huh. Doesn't ring a bell for me. But he does." He pointed at Cassidy. Michael sat back down on the armchair and pulled out a cigarette. Charlie knew that he did so whenever he was stressed and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"That's the kid who used to cry all the time." John continued.

"Yeah. Sammy and I were friends with him." She chewed on her lip. "His name was Cassidy."

John looked to the picture of Cassidy, Charlie, and their classmates.

"Those are the missing kids, right?"

"The first group, yes." Michael said, visibly relieved at the change of subject.

"The first group?" John looked at Charlie.

"You don't remember? There were more missing kids at every location." She said softly, tears pricking her eyes. "And it wasn't just William who was responsible. My dad…he… he helped him."

"What?" John's voice was low with apprehension. Charlie turned away tearfully.

"My father murdered the kids, Henry would hide the evidence." Michael said calmly. "He even invented a machine to aid in the process."

"That's why the robots are possessed. My dad found a way to preserve their souls, but it was by trapping them. They're angry and scared." Charlie sobbed.

"Jesus…" John set the photo album on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her. She soaked his sweatshirt with her tears. "But why did you go back?"

"I think there might be a way to… free them, but I'm not quite sure. I took the job to do some research of sorts." Michael continued to speak calmly.

"But that's not the only reason." Charlie pulled away from John and wiped her eyes.

"I had to lure my father out into the open." Michael continued, "But in the process he attacked Charlotte."

"What?!" John exclaimed, his brown eyes wide.

"I wasn't in a car accident that night. William found me and tried to beat me to death. He left me to die in the alley behind Junior's." Charlie revealed the scar on her forehead. John took her head in his hands.

"Charlie, why didn't you tell me?"

"I had to keep it a secret. Otherwise… I was afraid he'd hurt you, too."

"Is _that_ why you've been acting so weird?"

Charlie nodded.

"Jesus, Charlie…" He turned away and buried his face in his hands. "Did you tell Chief Clay?!"

"No. I… I can't."

" _What?_ Why the hell not?"

"My father is a dangerous man, John. Smart, too. Even if Charlotte were to come forward, there's next to no evidence. There's never been enough evidence to convict him of anything." Michael's calm demeanor was crumbling.

"He's right. There were no witnesses." Charlie said softly.

"Not enough evidence?! You have a scar! And didn't your dad find you? He's a witness!" John's voice rose.

"Don't you think he would've gone to Chief Clay already? He wants to hide it too!" Charlie snapped.

"Why?"

"Because he knows my father, John. With next to no evidence he'll worm his way out of any conviction just like he always does, and then he'll come after Charlotte again with even more of a vengeance. Do you _want_ that to happen?" Michael dropped his cigarette in the ashtray and stood up.

"I don't believe this." John stood up too, wandering over to the wall. Charlie went over to him but he elbowed her away. "Things were just fine before you got wrapped up in this, Charlie. You just couldn't leave it alone. Maybe he wouldn't have come after you if you'd just left it alone."

"He attacked me _before_ I knew anything!"

"Okay, but he's _still_ after you, right? Maybe he wouldn't be if you didn't go snooping around!"

"He'd still be after Charlotte, and me, even if we hadn't gotten involved." Michael snapped.

"You shut up! _You're_ part of the problem, pulling her deeper into this!" John whirled around to face the other man and snatched Charlie's hand. "We're leaving, Charlie, and you're telling Chief Clay everything."

"No! I can't go back!"

"So come and stay with me! This William guy won't know where you went and you don't have to be near your dad."

"No!" She broke away and her voice shook. "I'm… I'm staying right here. I _have_ to."

"Why?"

She looked at Michael, then back at John.

"Oh. I get it." John said coldly.

"John. Wait. No. That's not what I-"

"Charlie, you're wearing his shirt, for God's sake!"

She gasped.

"No! I just didn't have anything else to wear."

"John, she's telling the truth. I would never-" Michael began.

"Oh, bullshit!" John shouted. "I saw it from the very first day, the way you look at her!"

"John, no! You have to understand. William's after both of us and we need to stick together. But that doesn't mean I don't need you too!" Charlie reached out to him and his expression softened. "I'm not going to hide anything from you anymore. Michael and I… we have to get away from here. At least for a while."

John looked angry all over again.

"What do you mean?"

"John, my father is tracking us down as we speak. We can't stay here." Michael was calm again.

"Oh, so you're running away with her now?"

"John, you have to come with us. Please." Charlie took his hands.

"...You're kidding, right?"

"No! John… I promise things will be okay. You have to trust me."

"Are you _listening_ to yourself right now? No. No. I'm not doing this." John shook his head.

"John, please." Her voice broke. He looked down at their hands and she squeezed his. He ran his thumb over her promise ring. "Please. For me. Things will be okay."

"Charlie, things have changed. _You've_ changed." He broke away and picked up his coat.

"John, you can help us. We need you." Michael took a step forward.

"Charlie said it herself. You two have to stick together. Why would you need me?"

"John, stop it!" Charlie grabbed his hands again.

"No, _you_ stop it. You're out of your mind, Charlie." He yanked his hands away. "Either you come with me and deal with all of this like an adult, or you run away like a child."

"Will you at least _think_ about it?" She pleaded. John opened his mouth but closed it again seconds later. "Just for tonight. Think about it."

John looked at Michael, then back at her.

"...Okay. I'll think about it."

Charlie threw her arms around him and he embraced her back, kissing the top of her head after a moment. When they parted, he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Michael.

* * *

John and Charlie laid in Michael's bed that night, her holding onto him tightly.

"So… where would you- _we_ -go exactly?" He asked, shattering the longstanding silence between them.

"I was thinking Seattle. It's a big city and it would be hard for anyone to find us there." She nuzzled his neck.

"I still don't get it, Charlie. This could all be solved by going to the police."

"Even if we told the police, they'd still have to catch him. You heard Michael- William has a way of flying under people's radars and getting out of things."

"But what if he just follows you to Seattle? What then?"

Charlie didn't have an answer. What _would_ they do then?

"...It's just better if we go. I can't be around my dad anymore, either. knowing what he did…"

"You said he trapped their souls? It kind of sounds like he was trying to help them, keep them alive somehow."

"But they're not at peace. The last thing they saw was the face of a deranged lunatic… maybe two."

She imagined William holding a dripping, blood-stained knife in the backroom at Freddy's. He was standing over the corpse of a child while her father stood behind him, having let it happen. She shuddered and John held her closer. "That machine he has… I wish I knew where it was so I could destroy it."

John stroked her hair.

"That's a reason to stay. You can find out where the machine is and destroy it, and then figure out the William thing, and everything will go back to normal."

"I don't know how you can say that." She looked up at him.

"Well… more normal than things have been."

"Things haven't been normal for a long time, John. If things were normal, I'd still be at school. I left because I was worried about dad… at the time. He was so depressed. The bathroom cabinet was full of pills. But he pushed me away, and look what happened."

"...Are you blaming him for what happened to you?"

" _Yes._ He _knew_ William was still out there but he ignored him and hoped he would go away. He hoped everything would just go away if he ignored it." She threw her hands up. John sat up, causing her head to hit the pillow.

"But he was still trying to protect you, Charlie. He sold the franchise in an effort to protect you."

"And look what happened!"

"Stop. Being so angry. If you just sat down and talked with him-"

"I did!" Memories of that day, of _that_ moment, flashed through her mind. "It only made things worse."

"How?"

"He hit me, John. He _hit me_ when I asked him about that machine."

John froze.

"...What?"

She threw her forearm over her eyes.

"He got really mad and the next thing I knew… my cheek was hurting."

"Oh, Charlie…" John laid back down and embraced her.

"Now do you understand? I _have_ to leave." She rolled over to face him.

"And you can _._ Just come with me. My roommates won't mind."

"What about Michael?"

John sighed.

"What about him? Charlie, you barely know him. The only thing you have in common is that the same lunatic is after both of you."

"I can't just leave him."

"Why? I don't get it, Charlie." John released her and sat up.

"He helped me."

"Helped you? Charlie, he only dragged you deeper into this shit."

"No, he told me the truth, and he has a plan to-"

"Does he, Charlie? Or is he just using this as an excuse to get close to you?"

"Oh, not this again! Three years, John. Three years we've been together and you think I'm- I wouldn't be wearing this ring if I…" She trailed off and held her head in her hands, her outburst causing a headache.

"I'm not going. Are you still running away with him?"

"John-"

"Answer me!"

"Yes, but you know the reasons why! Stop making this into something it's not!"

"I'm not dealing with this, Charlie. I thought about it and I'm not dealing with this." John threw his hands up and got off the bed.

"John, wait!" Charlie jumped up but he was already heading out the right door of the bedroom. It was pitch black outside and snow was falling down in droves. She chased him down the hallway and grabbed his arm. He pushed her away and grabbed his coat off of the couch.

"Forget it, Charlie. Do what you want. I won't be a part of it."

"Wait!" She screamed. He turned around. "If you… if you won't do _this_ with me, then maybe we shouldn't do this, either." She pulled her ring off her finger. John dropped his coat. They stared at each other, heavy breathing standing in for talk. After a moment he put his coat on and sauntered over, snatching the ring out of her outstretched palm. They stared each other down until he turned around and left, slamming the front door behind him.

Charlie's breathing quickened and she sunk down to the floor, but she didn't cry. She couldn't cry.

"Charlotte?" Michael said uncertainty. She didn't turn her head, focusing on the closed door. The floor creaked as Michael took a few steps towards her.

"Don't." She held up a hand and got on her feet.

"Charlotte, I'm… I'm sorry." Michael whispered. Charlie pushed past him and walked back into the bedroom, where she laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Charlotte?"

"Just go away." Her voice was monotone.

"...Okay. But if you need to talk, I'm-"

"I SAID GO AWAY!" She threw a pillow at the door. Michael immediately shut it, but she knew he was lingering there. The tears started falling at last and she rolled onto her side, alone once again.


	20. Chapter 20: Nightmare

Charlie woke with a start, tears running down her cheeks. The pain in her leg was the equivalent of a charlie horse times one hundred. She groaned and grasped her pained limb, staring at the bottle of pills on the nearby dresser. If she could just get to them… she set her leg on the floor gingerly, but even that caused an unbearable sensation.

"Michael!" She called tearfully, "Michael, help me!"|

There were footsteps in the hallway and she breathed a pained sigh of relief.

"It's my leg… it hurts and I can't move it. You've gotta help-" The right door creaked open but Michael didn't enter. "...Michael?"

There was a shuffling sound and then a shadow appeared before her- a large shadow. Two red eyes peered at her through the darkness.

 _Oh no._ She fumbled for the flashlight on the bedside table. The shadow took the form of a bear, but it was very different from the yellow bear she'd seen before. _This_ bear was all black, save for a yellow tophat and bowtie. It had rows upon rows of terrible, glistening teeth.

" _You will not be spared… you will not be saved._ " A low, guttural voice filled the room. Charlie managed to grab the flashlight and shined it right at the bear, but it was undeterred. " _I am here to claim what is left of you."_ A cold metal paw wrapped itself around her throat. She cried out and tried to push it away from her, but its grip was much too strong.

"Charlotte!" Michael's voice was distant. "Charlotte!"

Her lungs started to burn from a lack of oxygen and the world faded around her.

" _You will not be spared… you will not be saved…"_

Her arms went limp as she let out another desperate gasp for air.

"Charlotte!" She could still hear Michael's voice, now pained and desperate. Everything went black and she felt as though she were floating in water.

"Charlie…" Suddenly there was another, softer voice. It was childlike and tender. "Charlie, open your eyes."

 _I can't._

"Charlie, you can. Open your eyes."

She opened them. She was standing in Fredbear's Family Diner, which looked exactly how she remembered it. It was empty, except for a lone box in the corner. _The puppet's box._ She recoiled in fear.

"Don't be afraid. Charlie, I'm here with you." The gentle chiming of the music box filled the room.

"Charlotte, you are safe here." Came another voice. This one was motherly. "The demon has come for you, but have no fear. It is not your time." A hand gripped Charlie's shoulder. She turned around to see a blonde-haired woman with striking green eyes. She wore an ethereal white dress and a necklace with a key charm. The diner faded away and turned into Michael's bedroom. Charlie saw him holding her head in his lap, pleading with her to open her eyes.

"Am I… dead?"

"No. Your pulse is faint, but your heart has not stopped. As I said, it is not your time."

"Who… who are you?" Charlie backed up.

"We've met before, Charlotte. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to explain myself then." Charlie remembered the silhouette in the hallway at her house. _The silhouette of a woman._

"I don't understand. How am I _not_ dead? That… thing… was choking me. I couldn't breathe."

"Things are different for you now, Charlotte. _You're_ different."

The woman put a hand on Charlie's shoulder again and she saw her mangled body lying in the alley behind Junior's. She watched as her distraught father picked her up and put her in the backseat of his car.

"Your heart stopped that night, but your father managed to bring you back." The scene changed to the outside of Henry's workshop.

"What do you mean?" Charlie stared at the closed workshop door. The woman put a hand on her other shoulder and gave both a squeeze.

"You _should_ be dead, Charlotte."

"...But I'm not? I don't understand."

"Your father was able to keep your remnant bound to your body using the very technology you wish to destroy."

"Remnant…" _The remnant injector."_ What.. what _is_ remnant?"

"The very makeup of living beings. You're probably more familiar with the term 'soul'."

"That's why the animatronics are possessed. They have _souls_ in them."

"Yes." The woman said sadly. "I'm very fortunate- I'm not confined to a cold robotic body. Neither are you… well, not to the degree they are."

"...What?"

"Charlotte, your father fixes things. It's in his nature. He had to fix you like any one of his other creations. Fortunately, you've maintained a great deal of your humanity. You can still think, love, cry, feel pain…"

They were in Michael's bedroom again.

"You'll understand in time. For now, you must return to your mortal form."

"Wait." Charlie turned around. "You didn't answer my question. Who _are_ you and how do you know all of this?"

"Just another lost soul trying to find peace. You, too, will find peace in time. Run if you must, but remember that it all started here, and it all needs to end here."

"But-"

Her eyes popped open. She was staring directly up at Michael.

"...Michael?"

"Charlotte! Oh my God…" he let out a gasp of relief, cradling her head in his lap.

"I… I thought for sure I was dead. I saw… I saw this bear. A black one. It choked me, and…" She sat up and he grabbed her hand.

"...A black one?" Michael paled.

"Yeah. With a yellow tophat. It tried to kill me, but then I woke up in Fredbear's and this woman… she..." She trailed off.

"...What?"

"...Forget it." She reached down and grabbed her leg again. "Can you grab me those pills?"

"...Yeah. Do you need water, too?"

"Please."

Michael left the room and she exhaled sharply.

 _He had to fix you. You should be dead._

 _Dad, what the hell did you do?_

Michael returned with a glass of water and put two pills in her hand.

"...Did you see it when you came in?" She asked after she downed the pills. Michael shook his head.

"No. I heard you call my name, and when I came in you were gasping for air. I… I really thought you were dying."

"I thought so, too." She started to shake- it had to be about 20 degrees in the bedroom.

"Here…" Michael picked her sweatshirt off of the floor and put it around her shoulders.

"...Michael, what do you remember?"

"About what?"

"About the early days of Fredbear's."

Michael stared at the toy phone on the floor.

"Well, I remember when it first opened. I was about seven at the time and Elizabeth was just a baby. How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"So that would make you about three, if my math is correct. I remember you and… you had a brother, right?"

Charlie nodded slowly and looked away. Michael cleared his throat.

"Right. I guess I just remember little things, like Fredbear and Spring Bonnie, playing in cardboard boxes on inventory days, having my birthday parties there …" He stood up and picked up the toy phone. "But what I really remember is that my father was different. Quite different."

" _Charlie, oh Charlie!" Henry called, pacing past several cardboard boxes. "Gosh, where could she be?"_

 _Charlie stifled a giggle as she briefly poked her head out of a box that had previously contained new kitchen supplies._

" _Henry, where do you want all these decorations? Are they going on the stage or in the dining room?" William walked over to his partner bearing another large cardboard box._

" _Dining room. Put 'em down here. While you're at it, maybe you can help me find Charlie. She's gone missing!"_

" _She's in that box." Michael nonchalantly pointed to the box Charlie had stowed away in._

" _Really? Are you sure?" Henry said in a sing-song voice. "I already checked and she isn't in there."_

 _Michael rolled his eyes and then looked up at William._

" _Dad, can you get all the decorations out? I need that box for my fort."_

" _In a minute, Michael." William set the box down. The door chimes jingled and a blonde woman holding a baby entered the establishment._

" _Well, looks like you two are making progress." She said, strolling over to the duo._

" _Yeah, the way things are now, we'll have this place up and running by Saturday." William kissed her cheek._

" _Mum." Michael tugged at his mother's dress._

" _Yeah, we just need to get the robots in here and we're golden. Pun intended." Henry smiled._

" _Mum."_

" _This is so wonderful. All the kids will love it."_

" _Mum!"_

" _What is it, Michael?"_

" _I need paint. I'm building a fort."_

" _Can I help?" Charlie popped her head out of her box._

" _No. No girls allowed."_

" _Oh, Michael. Be nice." The woman scolded._

 _William held out his arms and she gave him the baby, who was cooing softly._

" _She's looking more and more like you everyday, Mel." Henry commented, looking over William's shoulder._

" _I wanna see!" Charlie toppled her box._

" _She's just a boring baby. All she does is cry." Michael rolled his eyes again._

" _That's not what you were saying a few days ago, Michael." William laughed lightly. Henry lifted Charlie up to give her a look at the infant. Michael sighed and turned his attention to the box full of decorations._

"We were happy back then." Michael sat back down on the bed. "The perfect family."

"So… what happened?"

"I'm… I'm not really sure. My father started drinking more, I guess. I remember hearing him and my mom fight. Elizabeth would come into my room and we'd just hold each other until everything was resolved… well, as resolved as things could get. I think what really set him off, though, was what I did to Cassidy. I'll never forget the day I was sentenced to the mental hospital. My mom hugged me, told me everything would be okay… but he just stared right through me."

Charlie put her hand on his, feeling a bout of sympathy about his predicament for the first time.

"This was Cassidy's favorite toy- he'd spend hours playing with it. It was a gift from your father along with that robot guy over there."

"...My dad built most of my toys. I bet he built those, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Before we moved, I had some interactive toys in my bedroom. There was this unicorn, Stanley, and a little doll. Her name was Ella. Theodore, my purple bunny, was the only one I could take with me when we moved because Stanley and Ella were on little tracks. Sometimes I wonder if they're still there."

"You never went back?"

"Well, no. The house was sold. There's a new family there now. It'd be weird to just show up."

The pain in Charlie's leg was subsiding and she was able to relax. She rested her head on Michael's shoulder without thinking about it, but he didn't move away.

"It really is better if we leave. This place has way too many memories. Bad ones." He said quietly.

 _Run if you must, but remember that it all started here, and it all needs to end here._

"...Yeah." Charlie glanced at the clock on the bedside table. _4:30 am._ "Maybe we should just leave now. I don't think I can get back to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Michael said in a hushed voice.

"Yeah. Because-" There was a shuffling sound in the left hallway and Michael grabbed the flashlight. Charlie grabbed a fistful of his shirt as the shuffling grew louder. The closet door in front of them shifted and the flashlight flickered. Charlie could see the yellow tophat and bowtie clearly.

"That's it." She gasped.

"What's it?" Michael asked shakily.

"The bear. The black one."

The closet door shifted again and the bear emerged. It reached for Charlie again but froze, its red eyes becoming fixated on Michael. The flashlight flickered and it was gone a few seconds later.

"Is it gone?" Michael whispered.

"We need to leave. _Now._ "


	21. Chapter 21: Bad Blood

_Missing Person's Report_

 _Hurricane Police Department_

 _Name: Charlotte Emily_

 _Alias/Street Name/Nickname: Charlie_

 _Age: 19_

 _Sex: Female_

 _DOB: 06/07/1979_

 _Race: Caucasian_

 _Height: 5'8" Weight: Appox. 160 lbs_

 _Hair: Brown_

 _Eyes: Brown_

 _Hat: N/A_

 _Jacket/Coat: Green Sweatshirt_

 _Shirt: White t-shirt_

 _Pants: Denim Jeans_

 _Shoes: Black combat boots_

 _Scars/birthmarks/tattoos: Scar on right side of forehead_

 _Relatives: Henry Emily (Father), Jennifer Emily (Aunt)_

 _Overall health: Good_

 _Last seen health condition: Injured leg, concussion_

 _Last seen by: Henry Emily_

 _Last seen location: 8793 Maple Street, Hurricane, Utah_

 _Last seen date: November 22nd, 1998_

 _Last seen time: Approx. 11:30 am_

 _Reported missing by: Henry Emily_

 _Notes: MP was last seen driving a 1996 Dodge Stratus (green), license plate no. FUH-836._

 _Officer filing report: Clay Burke_

* * *

Charlie and Michael drove in silence, the radio standing in for talk. They'd only been driving for about two hours, but Charlie's eyes were heavy and her leg was aching again.

"You wanna look at the map in the glove compartment?" She yawned, breaking the silence at last. Michael rummaged through the glove compartment and frowned.

"Which one? There's three in here."

"The one with the state flag on it."

"Ah. Here it is. What am I looking for?"

"Just take a look and tell me where the next city is. We're on I-15, going towards North Salt Lake."

Michael looked up as they passed a highway sign and raised an eyebrow.

"Umm… that sign said we're on I-70."

"What?"

"Yeah. We're going west right now."

"God dammit!" Charlie seethed, hitting the steering wheel.

"We should probably get off somewhere anyway. You look terrible."

"No. We're not far enough away yet." She changed lanes and a horn blared at her.

"Well, you're in the exit lane now. Might as well." Michael said nonchalantly.

She got off the freeway with a sigh.

"Now what?"

"There was a sign for a motel a while back."

"No. I just need a gas station and some coffee."

"Charlotte, you got three hours of sleep last night. It's just up ahead." Michael said firmly.

"Fiiiinnneee…" She knew he was right, but she really didn't want to admit it; arguing also required energy she didn't have. The Green River Motel was situated by a gas station, diner, and truck stop.

"I hope we can get a room. Parking lot looks pretty full." She yawned.

"There are probably just a lot of people at the diner. It's the first food place in miles." Michael shrugged. They pulled into a spot next to a massive pickup truck and a few truckers standing outside of the diner watched the duo as they stepped out of the car.

"Why, hello there." An older man wearing faded blue jeans and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt beamed at Charlie. She gave him a small smile as she leaned against the car, trying to take weight off her leg while Michael fetched his duffle bag from the backseat of the Stratus. "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?"

The men beside him sniggered. Charlie had dealt with creeps at Junior's before, but she was always able to duck behind a counter or into the kitchen. She flashed the man another smile and then looked down at the gravel parking lot.

"What's your name, sweetheart? Wanna grab some lunch?" Another man piped up.

"Okay... let's go, yeah?" Michael said, helping her to lean against him.

"That your boyfriend? He looks like a pretty boy to me." The first man flashed a toothy smile. Charlie put a hand on Michael's chest pointedly and he looked at her with an amused expression. She exhaled and lowered her hand once they were in the motel's lobby, where a teenage girl was flipping through a magazine behind the reception desk.

"Welcome to the Green River Motel. How can I help you?" She rehearsed in a flat tone, setting the magazine down.

"Hi, we just need a room for tonight. Two beds?" Charlie said, shifting against Michael.

"I only have one room left and it's a queen bed. Will that work?"

"Yeah… that's fine." She sighed, just wanting to fall onto said bed.

"Our rate is $95 a night. Will you be paying with a credit card or a check?"

Panic struck Charlie- she only had her debit card and about $40 in cash tips from Junior's.

"Check." Michael set his duffle bag on the counter and pulled out what looked to be a new checkbook. Charlie stared as he filled out a check and handed it to the teen.

"Thank you. Can I see your ID, Mr… Smith, is it?"

"Here."

Charlie was baffled once again as he produced an ID card.

"Alright. Your room is up the stairs and to the right. We have a continental breakfast from 6 am to 10 am. Enjoy your stay." The teen handed Michael two room keys and his ID before going back to her magazine.

"I'm going to pay you back." Charlie muttered as he helped her up the stairs.

"Oh no, you're not. I'm not exactly broke here." Michael grunted as he struggled to balance both her and his bag.

"But you were only working at Freddy's for what, two weeks? Won't the check bounce?"

Michael didn't answer until they stepped into their room, which smelled of cigarettes and lemon air freshener.

"My mom set up a savings account for me. Frankly, I'm surprised my father didn't get to it first."

Charlie fell face first onto the bed and hugged a pillow.

"But wasn't it under your real name? How did you get the money out with a fake ID?"

Michael laughed.

"You ask too many questions, Charlotte." He laid down on the bed beside her and grabbed the remote. Charlie closed her eyes, far too tired to be bothered by the TV.

"...In other news, police are searching for a missing Hurricane woman." A chipper newscaster's voice filled the room. Charlie's eyes popped open and she rolled onto her back.

"19-year-old Charlotte Emily was reported missing by her father last night. She is a caucasian woman with brown hair and brown eyes, last spotted wearing a green sweatshirt and jeans. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Hurricane Police Department's non-emergency line."

"Damn." Michael muttered, pulling a cigarette and his lighter out of his pocket.

"Oh my Godddddd…" Charlie covered her eyes with her forearm. "This is _not_ good."

"We knew this would happen. It's okay." Michael put a hand on her knee.

"I know, I know. It's just… I hoped we'd be a little further away before it happened." She let out an agitated laugh.

"On the bright side, we've thrown my father off. He won't even know where to begin."

"That's true…" Charlie looked up at him and met his gaze.

"Go to sleep now. You need it." Michael made a makeshift ashtray out of the laminated channel guide on the bedside table.

"What about you?" She inquired, getting underneath the bed sheets and comforter.

" _The Immortal and the Restless_ is almost on. Can't miss that."

Charlie glanced at her phone. It was at 45 percent battery, which was surprising considering how much it had been vibrating and ringing. She decided to turn it off- the likelihood of finding a new charger was slim unless they found an electronics store. As she lay there, she stared at her bare ring finger and teared up. She'd always thought that John would be the one to take her away from Hurricane. It was hard to believe that he was just… gone. He was gone, Jessica and Marla were gone, chances were Lamar and Carlton were gone… she'd driven them all away because of Freddy's. She was alone.

"Charlotte?" Michael turned the TV down and she heard herself sobbing softly. "Are you-"

"No!" She curled up.

"Is there anything I can-"

"No!" Anger surged through her, hot and fast. John was right- Michael had pulled her deeper in, and she would've been better off not knowing what she knew. It was tearing her apart. "...I hate you."

"What?"

Charlie sat up and kicked the covers off.

"I _hate_ you!"

"What did I do?"

"Are you _serious_ right now? What did you do? It's all because of you. My boyfriend dumped me, my friends won't speak to me, and-"

"And that's _my_ fault?"

"Yes!" Charlie stood up. "If you hadn't told me about all of this bullshit, none of that would've happened!"

"So you'd rather be in the dark?"

"Yes, I'd rather be in the dark, at home where I belong, with my dad and John!"

"Let me get this straight. You're mad at me because I gave you the answers you wanted so badly?" Michael stood up too, hostility in his blue eyes.

"No, I'm mad at you for ruining my life! Things weren't great, but they were normal!"

"Charlotte-"

"Stop calling me that! You don't know me!" Her tears burned her cheeks. "Everything was just fine before that… that psycho, and then _you,_ showed up! You're… you're…"

"I'm _what_?"

"You're just like him!"

" _What_?" Michael froze.

"There's a reason you were locked up." She said shakily, "You're crazy... just like him."

Michael looked as though she'd slapped him.

"You look like him, you-"

"SHUT UP!" He walked around the bed and advanced on her. She backed up, wanting to suck her words back in. The look in his eyes was familiar- too familiar. She saw William. She grabbed her car keys and held them in a defensive position. Michael paused.

"You really think I'm going to hurt you." He said softly. "If that's what you think, if that's how you see me, well…"

Charlie raised the keys and he laughed lightly before turning around and picking up his duffle bag.

"You can do this yourself."

Her anger melted away instantly.

"Michael, wait. I-"

"No, I understand. I wouldn't trust me either. After all, I'm just like him."

"Michael!" Her leg gave out and she fell to the floor. "Wait!"

He left the room, letting the door slam behind him.

"DON'T LEAVE ME!"

She tried to stand but her leg kept giving out. She sobbed into the dirty carpet for what seemed like hours. By the time she was able to stand, the sky had darkened. She was starving due to her outburst and limped to the nearby diner, trying Michael's phone over and over again. The diner was empty except for a few truckers at the counter. Charlie sat down in an empty booth.

"What can I get you to drink, hon?" A brunette waitress with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth arrived instantly.

"Umm… a Coke please." She picked up a one-paged menu and examined it.

"Well, where's that boyfriend of yours?" The man in the Led Zeppelin t-shirt sat at the table next to her. Charlie ignored him. "You guys have a fight?"

"Yeah." She said finally, keeping her eyes on the menu.

"That's a damn shame. My buddy was kidding about that 'pretty boy' stuff. He seems like a real stand-up guy, helping you with that limp and all."

Charlie decided on a grilled cheese and set the menu down.

"Well, he's gone." She teared up all over again.

"What _are_ you doing out here? This really ain't a good town for young ladies to be walkin' around by themselves."

"I… I ran away from home."

"And where's home?"

"Hurricane."

"Hurricane… ain't that where all those kids went missing a few years back?"

"Yeah." She sighed. _Good old Hurricane, famous for missing kids._

"Well, you should go back. Runnin' away from your problems doesn't do shit. I'm away from home all the time and my problems are still there. My woman is still cheatin' on me."

"Really? That's awful."

The waitress set Charlie's drink down in front of her.

"Whatcha gettin', hon?"

"A grilled cheese, please. With fries?"

"You got it, hon." The waitress turned to the trucker with a smile. "I hope you're not givin' this young lady any trouble, Stan."

The trucker laughed.

"No more trouble than usual, Di." He turned back to Charlie. "I'm more than certain _your_ family misses ya. Just another reason to go back."

"I guess, but my dad… he did something really bad and I'm not sure I can ever forgive him."

"Fightin' with your daddy, eh? That's a damn shame, too. I have a daughter m'self. She's about your age, maybe a little younger. We fight, but I'd still do anything for her. No matter what, she's daddy's little girl."

Charlie thought of sitting in her father's workshop when she was a child, playing with stray screws and bolts. One day, when she was sitting there, he'd handed her Theodore. She thought of sitting in his office coloring while he did inventory. She thought of her senior prom, when he'd teared up upon seeing her in her dress. He'd done so again at her graduation ceremony. _No matter what, she's still daddy's little girl._

"Anyhow, I hope everything works out for ya. I hope you find your way back to your daddy and boyfriend."

"My dad maybe, but Michael… he's probably on a bus right now. I don't think I'll ever see him again."

"Oh, I think you will." Stan winked and looked towards the back of the diner. Michael was sitting at a table, smoking and flipping through a newspaper.

"Michael!" Charlie jumped up and limped over to the table. He glanced at her but immediately went back to his newspaper. "Michael, I was so worried. I thought you'd left."

"Not yet. Bus doesn't leave for another forty-five minutes." He said coldly.

"I don't want you to go. Please." Charlie sat down across from him.

"Oh?" He put the newspaper down and took a long drag off his cigarette. "I thought I was just like him and you don't want anything to do with me."

"I was just mad. Really. I'm still shocked that John left me, but it wasn't your fault no matter what I said."

Michael sighed.

"No, you do have a point. I _did_ ruin your life with all of this shit, but I've also ruined my own. I could've just started over in a new town with my new name. But it's too late for that now."

"But at least we're in this shit together now."

"And it needs to stay that way." He smiled.

"There you are. Here's your grilled cheese." The waitress set Charlie's plate in front of her and smiled at both of them. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Um… I guess I could go for some pancakes, now that I'm not catching the bus." Michael said.

"You got it, hon."

"Michael… I really am sorry for what I said." Charlie looked down at her plate.

"Let's just put it behind us, yeah?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Charlie could see Stan grinning at them with a toothy smile.

* * *

They both lay awake that night, facing away from each other. Charlie knew that Michael was still awake because his breathing hadn't slowed.

"Charlotte?"

"Hmm?"

"What if they come again tonight? Those bears? There aren't any doors to close."

"I brought the flashlight in from the car. They seem to hate light, although sometimes it doesn't bother the black one." She tensed as she remembered the cold paw wrapped around her throat. He rolled over and she did the same. Even in the dark she could clearly see his features and blue eyes. His fingers curled around the hand that was resting on her hip and she was startled. However, she didn't pull away. The physical contact confirmed that she wasn't alone.

She was able to relax at last, closing her eyes. _BANG!_ They popped open just as quickly as she'd closed them. _BANG! BANG!_ Something was hitting the window. Michael jumped up and grabbed the flashlight. He recoiled as he pulled the curtain back and then yanked it shut again.

"Is it-" Charlie sat up. Michael shook his head.

"It's worse."


	22. Chapter 22: Business As Usual

" _What's_ worse?" Charlie turned on the bedside lamp.

"B-Bonnie's out there. I think."

" _What?_ "

 _BANG!_ Michael jumped away from the window.

"Like, Freddy Fazbear's Bonnie? Or old Bonnie?"

"Neither! He's-!"

 _BANG!_ Charlie kicked the covers off and rushed to Michael's side, grabbing his arm. She saw a purple form lingering by the window and caught a glimpse of gleaming silver- more menacing teeth. Michael cautiously made his way to the balcony door and poked his head out, shining the flashlight down the open corridor.

"What are you doing?!" Charlie clamoured after him. Bonnie lurched forward and Michael slammed the door, but not before giving the rabbit a large dose of light. There was a low growl and the flashlight flickered several times. Michael poked his head out of the door again.

"...He's gone."

"This can't be real." Charlie pinched the bridge of her nose and walked back to the bed, plopping herself down on its edge. "There's no way they're real."

"We're both seeing them, Charlotte." Michael shut the door and joined her.

"Yeah, but just think about it for a second. First of all, they show up out of nowhere. Second of all, they don't move like real animatronics. Even my dad's _new_ animatronics stutter a bit when they walk. Orville is the fastest one at Junior's and even he takes a few minutes to cross the entire dining room."

"Wait, the robots at Junior's walk around?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"Very rarely, like twice a month, but yes. Nobody's in the restaurant when they do. They don't need to walk around every night like the ones at Freddy Fazbear's, but they're still in danger of locking up if they don't get some kind of movement beyond the stage occasionally. But that's not the point. The point is that it's physically impossible for real animatronics to move like the ones we've seen. Also, "Bonnie" didn't like the flashlight very much. The yellow bear doesn't, either."

"So?"

"So they like the dark. Have you ever had a night terror?"

He gave her a look.

"Okay, dumb question. But when you have a night terror, it's usually because you _think_ you're seeing something in the dark. It takes your brain a minute, but once you turn on the light, that something disappears because it was an illusion. A trick of your mind."

"Charlotte, an illusion can't choke you. You were unconscious."

"But you didn't see the black bear when you came into the room, remember? Have you ever dreamt that you were falling or drowning? The sensation feels real. People have died in their sleep because their bodies thought that they were actually drowning."

"So… these things are night terrors?"

"Some freakishly elaborate version of them, yes. It's the same concept."

"I still don't get it. How are we both seeing them at exactly the same time? ...Most of the time."

"I don't know, but we should probably keep the lights on tonight." Charlie yawned.

"...Right." Michael stood up and turned on the overhead light. "...I'm going to keep watch."

"Watch?"

"In case any of them come back. It's not like I'm going to get sleep anyway. Did you _see_ that thing?"

"...If you're sure." Charlie got under the covers and Michael sat on the foot of the bed, armed with the flashlight. He watched the window closely.

"...Goodnight." Charlie said, staring at the window herself.

"Night." He replied warily. Charlie eventually shut her eyes but she was merely resting them. Her thoughts were drifting back to her father. He was probably awake, tinkering in his workshop to calm his nerves. She was hit with a sudden pang of worry- would William, having lost track of her, go after her father and Aunt Jen? Or her friends? What other tricks did he have up his sleeve? The many possibilities plagued her mind until she drifted off at last.

* * *

It was business as usual at Junior's despite the circumstances. Henry woke up at 8 am, had breakfast, and headed to the pizzeria as usual. Once there he called Chief Clay as he'd done for the past two days. No leads, no new findings. The hours dragged by until the pizzeria opened. Once the doors were open, he left the staff to their own devices and retreated into his office. He stared blankly at the inventory form on the monitor in front of him. Each time he typed some numbers, his eyes would wander to the picture frames on his left. It was an endless, sad cycle.

Henry turned to a picture frame after entering the amount of plastic utensils he needed. It contained a picture of him and Charlie standing in front of the Mediocre Melodies. The other picture was of a six-year-old Charlie holding Theodore. Henry removed his glasses and looked away after just a few seconds, rubbing his tired eyes.

There was a knock on the door.

"Henry?" Derek, the dayside security guard, poked his head into the office.

"What's up, Derek?" Henry stopped rubbing his eyes in order to rub his temples.

"Your new hire is here. Can I send her in?"

"...Yeah. Yeah." He sighed, "Send her in."

Derek stepped off to the side and a young woman took his place. She wore a pink sweater and worn jeans, and her light brown hair was pulled back into a neat low ponytail.

"Mr. Emily?"

"Henry, please." He stood up and extended his hand. "I'm very sorry, but I've forgotten your name."

"Vanessa." The woman flashed a megawatt smile that complimented her green eyes.

"Vanessa. That's right. Come on in." He gestured to the wheeled chair beside his. _Charlie's chair_. He roughly shook the thought away and sat on his own, pulling a manila envelope out of his file cabinet.

"I see you came prepared." He gestured to the purple notebook and matching pen Vanessa held on her lap.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to take notes. It's a habit, really."

"So you just graduated this past May. Congratulations, first of all. Second of all, I'm glad you found us." Henry examined Vanessa's interview notes.

"I'm glad I found you, too. It's not easy finding engineering jobs around here."

"Did you fill out those forms I gave you at the end of the interview?"

"Yup, they're all right here." Vanessa pulled several sheets of paper out of her notebook.

"Perfect. I'm just going to take a quick look here…" Henry scanned the forms for completeness.

"Is that your daughter? In the pictures?" Vanessa asked suddenly. He nearly dropped everything.

"...Yeah, that's Charlie." He focused on the woman's direct deposit form.

"I feel like I've seen her before."

Henry swallowed hard.

"You probably saw her on the news. She's been missing for two days."

" _She's_ the missing girl? I'm so sorry."

"Everything looks good. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the place." Henry tucked Vanessa's employment papers into the manila folder.

"Look at all these drawings! Were they all done by the kids that come in?" The girl inquired as they strolled into the arcade.

"Yup. I don't throw a single one out. They're the best kind of decor." Henry smiled, grateful to focus on something else. "This is the arcade. Some of these games are thirty years old."

"Cool." Vanessa smiled, but she looked distracted.

"The kitchen's right over there. As an employee, you get free pizza and a drink every shift. If you'd prefer a salad, you can also head over to the salad bar."

"No way. Are you serious?"

"Yup. I mean, you might get tired of pizza and salad after a while. There's an employee fridge so you can bring in your own food if you want. There's a microwave in the lounge, which is back by my office."

"Is that the prize counter over there?"

"Sure is. The plushies are the most popular prizes- we have parents who will buy them for their kids if they can't get enough tickets. But enough of this basic stuff. You're not a waitress, you're a technician. Come on, I'll introduce you to the robots."

Vanessa visibly perked up and Henry smiled. The animatronics were in an idle state, occasionally turning their heads and flexing their articulated joints.

"That's Happy Frog. She's the star of the show." Henry gestured to the frog in the middle of the stage.

"Hey, Happy Frog!" Vanessa opened her notebook.

"The elephant is Orville, the pig is Pigpatch, and the bear is Nedd Bear. Come on up, I'll show you a few things."

Vanessa eagerly joined the animatronics and Henry on the stage.

"Maintenance is pretty simple- all you need is a wrench and a screwdriver most of the time. I'm not going to traumatize any kids right now, but the faceplates pop right off. There's a small power module in their necks, on the endoskeleton. To shut them off, all you have to do is remove it. Just don't drop it or lose it."

Vanessa nodded and scribbled in her notebook.

"Do they walk?"

"They sure do, but not when there are customers around. I have a few… older models... that need to walk around nightly to keep their servos from locking up, but these guys only need to walk once or twice a month."

"Older models?"

"I've owned a few restaurants that featured animatronics. Sold them, though."

"Candy's? That's the only other restaurant I can think of with animatronics."

Henry laughed.

"No, definitely not Candy's. Anyway, if you want to come over here, there's someone else I want to introduce you to." He stepped off of the stage and headed for Mr. Hippo's Story Corner. Vanessa eagerly followed. Mr. Hippo was idle as well, one purple arm in a waving position.

"This is Mr. Hippo. He tells stories. Ten of them. They're randomized throughout the day." Henry said proudly. Vanessa took a step forward and the hippo lurched towards her.

"Whoa."

"I-I-It's s-s-story t-t-ime!"

The girl yelped as the animatronic grabbed her by the arm and yanked her towards him.

"Hold on, stay calm." Henry attempted to pry the hippo's mechanical hand off of Vanessa, but he had a death grip. He continued to pull her forward. "Don't pull back, don't pull back! Hold on." Henry's calm demeanor remained but he darted to the back room. Vanessa was screaming when he got back.

 _BZZZZZZAP!_ Mr. Hippo froze and let go of the girl, who fell backwards into a table. Henry stuffed the shock device into his back pocket and helped her up.

"Are you okay?"

Vanessa rubbed her shoulder.

"I-I think so."

"I'm so sorry, he's never done that before. He's been acting a little off lately, but…" Henry stared at his now dazed creation. At least he'd managed to perfect the device- it no longer caused a blackout. The other animatronics started performing with vigor.

Vanessa picked up her notebook.

"What did… what did you do?"

Henry pulled the device out of his back pocket.

"This is a controlled shock device. It rejiggers animatronic components. They'll stop whatever they're doing and go back to either a neutral or performance state." Henry glanced around the nearly-empty restaurant. The few patrons that were there were staring, but it appeared that they'd only caught the tail end of the incident. Vanessa opened her notebook and scribbled some more.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Anything else you want to show me?"

"Well, you're going to learn how to deactivate an animatronic." Henry drew the curtains around Mr. Hippo's stage. "Follow me. I'll show you where all the tools are kept." He led her to the back room.

"You can use anything in my toolbox as long as you put it back when you're done."

"What's that over there?"

"The vacuum? That's one of Charlie's inventions." Henry didn't look up- even looking at Mr. Hugs (as Charlie called him) would trigger him.

"No, not that. _That._ The bear."

"Oh. _That._ It's… it's just a prototype. Sometimes I use it when I want to test new features." He said quickly.

"A prototype? It looks like a complete animatronic to me." Vanessa touched the star on the bear's chest.

"Don't touch it, please." Henry rushed over. Vanessa withdrew her hand and looked at him quizzically. "It has new features on it, so it could be unstable."

The bear's one yellow eye stared up the duo. Vanessa nodded and scribbled in her notebook again.

"Umm… you don't need to take notes on it. It's literally just a prototype. In fact, I'd prefer if you just left it alone. It's nothing personal, really. I don't let anyone touch it. Now, come here. I'm going to show you what tools you have to use on the animatronics."

Vanessa shut her notebook reluctantly and followed Henry to his large toolbox and then back out to Mr. Hippo's stage.

"Okay… so we're going to take this screwdriver here and open the faceplates, like so." Vanessa jumped back at the hissing sound the Hippo emitted. "Now, the power module is right here, on the right side of his neck. It's the little black thing with the red light on it." Henry carefully pulled the disk off of the endoskeleton, showing it to his apprentice.

"It's magnetic. Comes right off."

"...That little thing turns the animatronic on and off?"

"Yup."

Vanessa opened her notebook again, tilting it towards herself so that he couldn't see what she was writing.

"...And that's that. He won't switch on again until we put the disk back in place." Henry stepped off the stage. "Now, let's do some troubleshooting." He handed Vanessa the screwdriver.

"With all due respect, Mr. Em- Henry- I'd rather you take care of this." She handed the screwdriver back and he nodded slowly.

"Fair enough. You just watch."

Henry worked at Mr. Hippo's internal components while Vanessa scribbled in her notebook. He couldn't help but think of Charlie and how eager she was to work on the animatronics, and he lost his focus many times.

"... I'll… I'll be right back." He sighed after dropping his wrench for the umpteenth time.

"Okay." Vanessa hopped off the stage and sat at a nearby table. Henry darted to his office and picked up the phone, dialing Chief Clay's direct line.

"Hello? Clay here."

"Hi Clay, it's me again. I'm sorry to keep bothering you, but-"

"Henry? I was just about to call you- we have a lead."


	23. Chapter 23: Alive

Charlie and Michael were staying at the Green River for another night, despite Charlie's objections. She'd woken up with a migraine that left her unable to stand. She spent the day in bed, buried under the covers, only emerging when Michael enticed her to drink some water. She slept at random intervals, waking up at the slightest sound.

"Charlotte?" Even Michael's calm, subdued voice was jarring. Charlie groaned and poked her head out from under the covers. It was nighttime at last, and the darkened room was incredibly soothing to her stinging eyes.

"How is it?" Michael sat on the edge of the bed and extended a fresh cup of water to her. She didn't feel like throwing up anymore and the pain in her head was now a dull ache, but she was still nauseous.

"...Better." She sat up and took a sip of water. Michael pressed the back of his hand to her forehead.

"Still no fever. That's good."

"I'm not sick. It's just a migraine."

The two sat in silence, listening to the ambiance of the motel. There was a passing conversation and footsteps followed by a door shutting out in the hallway. Michael cleared his throat and shattered the silence a few seconds later.

"...So I brought the letters with me. The letters from my mom."

"...Really?" Charlie looked at him quizzically.

"I reread a good chunk of them while you were sleeping, just to see if there was any information we could use… and I think I found something." Michael stood up and retrieved a letter from the cluttered desk by the TV. "There's another Freddy's."

" _What?_ "

Michael cleared his throat again and sat down on the foot of the bed.

"Michael- it seems your father has taken on a new venture. He bought an old coal refinery aways out of town and he has hired a contractor and construction crew. He says that what he has in store will be a great thing for us, but I have my reservations. Elizabeth is much more excited than me, mainly because your father is promising her something extra special."

Michael shuffled the first letter behind another and started reading the next one.

"... I don't know how your father managed it, but he's created four robots. They're the star attractions of his new business venture, "Circus Baby's Rentals". Elizabeth and I were "introduced" today. There's a Fox ("Funtime Foxy"), a bear ("Funtime Freddy") a ballerina (Ballora; she's my least favorite by far), and Circus Baby herself, a clown girl. Circus Baby is the extra special thing your father promised Elizabeth. Obviously Funtime Freddy and Foxy are blatant ripoffs of Henry's creations.

But they aren't ordinary animatronics, Michael. There's something _very off_ about each of them, but I can't put my finger on it. One thing I can put my finger on, however, is the stolen blueprint I found in your father's office. I've included it in this envelope- it was a big risk, sneaking it in, but I promised I'd give you any and all information. I don't know what this SCUP device does, but Henry designed it with good intentions and I'm certain your father will twist it somehow.

This isn't good, Michael. Something terrible is going to happen. I will gather whatever information I can, even if it means going to this place everyday." Michael sighed and refolded the letters.

"And? She went back, right? There's another letter with more information, right?" Charlie said urgently.

"Yes and no. The only other letter referring to this location includes the address and not much else. There were more stolen blueprints included with that letter, but I left them at the hospital. There was this small hole in the wall where I hid them and the SCUP blueprints. I thought I grabbed them all, but I was in such a hurry to get out of there… they probably slipped out of the folder I stuffed them all in." Michael chewed on his lower lip.

"Jesus…" Charlie groaned.

"But we have the address. We can go and check it out for ourselves."

"Great! I'll get dressed!" She threw the covers off.

"What? We can't go now. You're still sick."

"I told you, I'm not sick. It's a migraine and it's mostly gone."

"Charlotte-"

Charlie had already grabbed her clothes and darted to the bathroom. When she emerged Michael was still sitting on the foot of the bed, holding the large police flashlight.

"You're _sure_ you want to-"

"Let's go." Charlie grabbed her car keys and headed out the balcony door. It was freezing outside- she put her hands deep in her sweatshirt's front pocket. Once in the car, she turned the heat on full blast. Fortunately, they only had to backtrack a little to find the refinery, which was one county over. The single, warehouse-like building stood alone in the middle of an overgrown field. There was a large sign above the main entrance of the building, but it was faded and illegible. There was a parking lot, but it was small and various plants grew out of the cracks in the asphalt.

"Who opens a place like this in the middle of nowhere?" Charlie wondered aloud as she stepped out of the car.

"My father had a very specific vision for this place- this was probably the only building that met his standards." Michael sighed, "It's inconspicuous, too."

Charlie walked up to the main entrance and tugged on the planks of wood nailed over the door.

"Wait. My mom mentioned a maintenance entrance. It'll probably be easier to go in that way." Michael gestured for her to follow him. She did so reluctantly, shining the flashlight on his back.

"Here. See?" He cleared some brambles away from a rusty door on the side of the building.

"There's no way that's unlocked. We'll have to pick the-"

The door creaked open and Charlie felt a sudden pang of apprehension.

"Come on, then." Michael ventured into the building.

"Wait." Charlie grabbed his shoulder. _That was too easy._

"What?"

"It's a little weird that the door was just… open. What if someone else is in here?"

"They're not."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Over here." Michael gestured towards a set of rusted metal doors just a few feet away.

"There's a number pad. You need a code to activate the elevator."

"Did your mom give you the code?"

"No, but-"

"Wait, what's that? Above the number pad." Charlie shined the flashlight on a fabric pouch hanging off the wall. Michael tentatively reached up and retrieved the item in the pouch, which appeared to be a yellow tablet.

"It… it has my name on it. It's my mom's handwriting." He examined the tablet closely.

"Is there also a code on it?"

"No, but I have an idea." Michael turned to the number pad. _Beep beep boop beep._ Somewhere, in the deep recesses of the building, an engine roared to life.

"What was it?"

No response. The elevator doors creaked open a second later and the car sunk down slightly when Charlie and Michael stepped into it.

"...I hope this thing still works." Michael switched the tablet on.

"Welcome to the first day of your exciting new career!" A voice boomed. "I'm a model 5 of the Handy Man's Robotic and Unit Repair System, but you can call me Hand Unit. Your new career promises challenge, intrigue, and endless janitorial opportunities. Please enter your name as seen above the keypad. This cannot be changed later so be careful." A virtual keyboard appeared on the tablet.

"Right…" Michael muttered. _Beep beep boop boop boop boop!_ "Damn it, it won't stop shaking!"

"Here, let me-" Charlie reached for the tablet.

"It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type and I will autocorrect it for you. One moment." The voice said helpfully.

"Welcome, _Maya_."

Charlie laughed, mostly due to her nerves. She stumbled forward when the elevator stopped abruptly seconds later.

"You can now open the door using that bright, red, and obvious button. Let's get to work!" The voice exclaimed.

"...What the hell was _that_ about?" Michael stared at the tablet in bewilderment.

"Beats me, _Maya_." Charlie was once again using humor to calm herself. Michael hit the red button by the elevator door. They snapped open and revealed a tiny crawl space adorned with yellow caution tape. Charlie and Michael exchanged glances.

"...Well, this _is_ the _maintenance_ entrance." He muttered, kneeling down and clearing the yellow tape away from the opening. "..You first."

" _What?_ Why me?" Charlie backed up. " _You_ have the tablet!"

"You're more techy!"

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

"There could be something you have to hack into or something."

"In the vent?"

"Could be! My father could have installed some kind of security system or-"

"Fine." Charlie sighed, holding out her hand. She slipped the tablet into the back pocket of her jeans and reluctantly entered the vent, pushing cobwebs away from her face in the process. Michael followed her after several seconds.

"Motion trigger; Entryway vent." A female voice echoed through the vent suddenly and Charlie gasped and froze in place.

"Allow me to fill this somewhat frightening silence with some light-hearted banter." Hand Unit piped up seconds later. "Due to the massive success and even more so the unfortunate closing of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, it was clear that the stage was set, no pun intended, for another contender in children's entertainment. Unlike most entertainment venues, our robotic entertainers are rented out for parties during the day, and it's _your_ job to get the robots back in proper working order before the following morning."

"Keep going." Michael hissed behind Charlie. The girl took a deep breath and focused on the light she could see at the end of the vent. Her relief was palpable when she crawled out and stood up. She was in a small, greenish-hued room with small control panels and vents on either side, as well as one straight ahead. A few small, white animatronic heads sat in a corner and instantly piqued her curiosity. They reminded her of a project she'd done during her one college semester.

"Charlotte?" Michael emerged from the vent and glanced around the room himself.

"Now what?" They said at the same time.

"You are now in the primary control module; it's actually a crawl space between the two front showrooms." Hand Unit said, "Now let's get started with your daily tasks. View the window to your left. This is the Ballora Gallery Party Room and Dance Studio, encouraging children to get fit and enjoy pizza. Let's turn on the light to see if Ballora is onstage. Press the blue button on the elevated keypad to your left."

"Go for it, Techie." Michael said, nudging Charlie. She shot him a look before hitting the button. The light revealed nothing but an empty stage.

"Great! It looks like everything is as it should be in Ballora Gallery." Hand Unit commented.

"What? Am I missing something?" Charlie tried the light again. "Where's Ballora?"

"Now, view the window to your right. This is the Funtime Auditorium, where Funtime Foxy encourages kids to play and share. Try the light! Let's see what Funtime Foxy is up to!" Hand Unit continued nonchalantly.

Charlie hit the elevated keypad on the right and screamed. There, above Funtime Foxy's stage, were the silhouettes of two hanged men.

"Great! It looks like everything is as it should be in Funtime Auditorium!"

Charlie and Michael stood in shocked silence.

"Due to unforeseen malfunctions from today's shows, your nightly duties will require you to perform maintenance that you may or not be skilled enough to perform. It became necessary for technicians to attempt to disconnect Funtime Freddy's power module. However, they were unsuccessful." Hand Unit continued.

"No shit." Michael muttered under his breath, hitting the light switch again.

"Stop it!" Charlie hissed, snatching his wrist.

"...Allowing them to try again would be an insufficient path forward. You will need to reach the Parts and Service Room on the other side of Funtime Auditorium to perform the procedure yourself. Proceed directly to Funtime Auditorium."

"Yeah, like _that'll_ happen." Michael growled.

"We have to get out of here. There's something down here that killed those men-"

"Motion trigger; Entryway vent. Motion trigger;Entryway vent."

Charlie and Michael stared at the vent behind them in horror.

"Not exactly. Some _one_ killed those men." William emerged from the vent, a large smirk situated on his face.

"Yeah! It was our new friend!" Elizabeth came up behind him. She wore a ruffled red skirt and a matching lace-up tank top. Her blonde pigtails were bouncy as usual and her green eyes glimmered even in the dim light of the control module.

"That was easier than I thought it would be. I have you _right_ where I want you." William let out a raspy chuckle.

"We knew you had mommy's letters, Mike. We knew that you'd come here when you ran away!" Elizabeth chirped. She had a small lollipop in her mouth- Charlie could see the stick hanging out of it.

"Elizabeth…" Michael said his sister's name mournfully- Charlie had never heard such pain in his voice before.

"Now..." William stepped forward and tilted Charlie's chin up with his grimy fingers.

"Don't touch her!" Michael snapped and advanced on his father, but Elizabeth took hold of him. Charlie couldn't bring herself to move- all she could do was glare.

" _Charlotte_ , my dear, I'll admit I was quite shocked when I found out you'd survived our encounter. I watched the life fade from those beautiful eyes when I dumped you in the alley. I was _so sure_ that was the end of it. But, as usual, your father wouldn't stand for it. I know what he did, _Charlotte,_ but he won't be able to do it again. I'll make sure of it." He shoved her and she hit the back of her head against an unseen blunt object as she fell.

"No!" Michael fought against Elizabeth to no avail. Spots erupted in front of Charlie's eyes and she groaned loudly. Her migraine was back and more painful than ever.

"As for you, _Michael_ …."

Charlie didn't hear the rest of William's sentence. Once again, Elizabeth's shrill laughter accompanied her into darkness.

* * *

 _Click click click._ _ **Charlie**_ _. Click click click CLICK click._ _ **Charlie, open your eyes.**_ She was somehow standing- she realized this when she opened her eyes. _Click CLICK!_ _ **The springlocks, Charlie.**_ _Springlocks?_ She gasped. Her peripheral vision revealed blinking red dots on either side of her head. She was in a suit- a suit complete with a head. _**Help is coming, Charlie. I am here with you.**_ Charlie shook her head to get her mind moving and diligently wound the springlocks, remembering the pain of being caught in their confines.

"Where am I?" She cried out. No response from the voice. It was pitch black in the room except for a flashing red light in the distance. She whimpered in frustration- her arm was already getting tired and her head was throbbing.

" _Dad!"_ She wailed out of the blue. She'd never wanted her father more. But she was going to die. She'd never see him again. She closed her eyes and waited for the springlocks to impale every limb, every organ. _Click click click CLICK CLICK!_

"Charlotte?" Michael's voice was distant. _Michael? How had he-_ "Charlotte?" He entered the room.

"Here." She rasped. _He's too late. Any second now… CLICK!_ She felt the locks by her right leg loosen. Suddenly a cold burst of air hit her chest- the suit was somehow opened from the front. She fell forward into Michael's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. He embraced her tightly.

"How did you-"

"Charlotte..." The way he spoke was very off. She pulled away and studied him. His expression was relaxed and his eyes- _his eyes._ They were glowing. Not reflecting the dim red light in the room- they were glowing. They had a luminescence similar to Elizabeth's eyes. Unnatural. Unnerving.

"Michael…"

"Charlotte, it's okay." His voice was low and foreboding.

She backed up. _But you're not._

"Michael." She repeated, hoping that he'd snap out of whatever daze he was in. He was in shock, much like she was. That was what she told herself in an attempt to shake the feeling of dread that now hung over her.

"Charlotte." He was staring right through her. Her first instinct was to run, but her feet wouldn't move. Nothing was making sense- William's threats had been empty. They were still alive. Michael lowered his head. Charlie couldn't be certain, but it sounded like he was sobbing softly. She lowered her own gaze and caught sight of his bloodied torso. She'd been so fixated on his eyes that she hadn't noticed it at first. He'd been stabbed. That was the only explanation, but it didn't make any sense. He was standing and not the least bit faint from the ensuing blood loss.

"Charlotte, I… I don't know… I don't understand…" Michael stammered. Charlie let out a sob of her own. She didn't understand either.


	24. Chapter 24: No More Secrets

_Author's Note: Things are still nuts with work and COVID- I'm very sorry for the spotty updates. Your continued support is very much appreciated!_

 _This doesn't make any sense._ Charlie sat on a chair in the main control module, one hand covering her mouth as tears pricked her eyes. _I should be dead. WE should be dead._ Michael leaned against the glass separating the main control module from Funtime Auditorium, staring straight ahead. He hadn't said anything since they'd stumbled out of the dark recesses of the facility. Charlie studied him yet again, and all she saw was empty eyes and a blank expression.

"Michael…?"

No response. He just stared at her with those empty eyes.

"What happened?" She asked for the umpteenth time, praying for a coherent answer.

"It was there."

"What do you mean?" Desperation laced Charlie's voice.

"There. In the room. It was there."

" _What_ was there?" Charlie stood up.

"That… thing. From the blueprints."

"That device?"

Another blank stare. Charlie's heart started to pound and she let out a shuddering breath. There was only one person she knew who could shed light on their situation.

"We have to go." She took Michael's clammy hands in hers.

"Where… where are we going?"

She ducked into the entryway vent and Michael followed, albeit reluctantly. The elevator ride to the surface seemed like an eternity. When the doors opened she was off like a shot, walking towards her car purposefully.

"Charlotte, _where_ are we going?" Michael's voice was morose.

"Back." She unlocked the car and fell into the driver's seat.

"What? No."

"It's the only way." Charlie said shakily.

"No! You… you're crazy."

There was the distant sound of a car engine.

"Michael, we _have to._ "

Her companion just stared at her blankly.

Headlights appeared in her rearview mirror and she huffed in frustration.

"Michael-"

"No." He said simply. Charlie leapt out of the car, causing her leg to smart.

"It's the only way!" She repeated indignantly.

"NO!"

She grabbed his hand and he pushed her away. She fell backwards onto the frozen ground, staring at him in shock. Michael stared back at her, but there was no shock or remorse in his eyes. He turned away and stumbled into the nearby field. Pain filled Charlie's chest as she stared after him. A car door slammed behind her and she jumped, but her gaze remained fixated on the field.

"Charlie?"

 _Chief Clay._ She turned her head at last and watched as he approached with another officer. They stopped on either side of her and she just blinked. She couldn't cry out, as much as she wanted to. Her body was hurting. Her heart was hurting. She'd been abandoned, again.

* * *

The ride back to Hurricane was tedious for Charlie, but not nearly as tedious as having to sit in the police station while Chief Clay prodded her for every little detail. John had come forward with everything- William's attack, how they'd gone back to Freddy's, and how she'd run away with Michael. Chief Clay didn't use her ex boyfriend's name specifically- he cited an "anonymous source"- but Charlie knew better.

"This is a safe place, Charlie. You don't have to hide anything." Chief Clay said for the umpteenth time, folding his hands and resting them on the wooden table they sat at.

"I just want to go home." She whispered, her tears staining the wood.

"I know. I just have a few more questions, okay?" The officer put a box of tissues in front of her.

"I need to see my dad."

"He's in the lobby. You'll get to see him soon, I promise." Chief Clay shuffled some papers around and picked up a pen. "The anonymous tip we received stated that Mr. Afton has an alias. Is that true?"

"...Yes."

"Can you tell me what that alias is?"

Charlie looked up. She was shaking and her mouth opened and closed a few times before producing a sound.

"...He goes by Fritz Smith." She said at last.

Chief Clay scribbled on one of the papers in front of him.

"And you went with Mr. Afton willingly?"

"Yes."

"He didn't threaten to hurt you or anyone close to you if you didn't comply?"

"No! Stop trying to demonize him!" Charlie stood up, her hands pinned against the table.

"Charlie, these questions are part of our protocol. I'm not demonizing anybody." Chief Clay said calmly.

"He's not like William _at all._ I _know_ that's what you're thinking."

"Charlie… please relax. I'm just trying to help."

The girl sighed and closed her eyes. She was exhausting herself more and more with every outburst.

"Sit back down. We're almost done."

Charlie collapsed onto her metal chair.

"You said that you and encountered William Afton tonight, along with a Ms. Elizabeth Afton. Do you know anything about their whereabouts?"

"No. They… they left after putting me in the suit I mentioned."

She'd told the whole truth, with the exception of Michael's current condition. She had a sinking feeling that the police would go looking for him.

The officer slipped his papers into a large manila folder and smiled sadly at Charlie.

"You can go home now, Charlie. Thank you for your cooperation."

"..Are you going to look for them? William and Elizabeth?" She whispered fearfully.

"Yes. I put out a bulletin based on the information we have. We know what his car looks like thanks to you, and a few other sources have come forward with other information."

"Thank you." The sinking feeling Charlie had eased up, if only a little.

"I'll take you to your dad now." Chief Clay gestured for her to follow him. The small police station's corridors were quiet and foreboding as the duo walked through them, and Charlie hugged herself. Henry sprung up from his chair when they entered the lobby, and Charlie's breath caught in her throat. He was just as exhausted as she was- she could see it in his eyes.

When she threw her arms around him, he shuddered. They both shuddered, silent sobs choking them. She was still angry, but all she wanted was to be protected. She felt like a little girl again, helpless. Her father let her go after several minutes and traced the scar on her forehead with a sigh.

"Charlotte, I…I have so much to..." He glanced at Chief Clay and then back at her. "...Let's go home."

* * *

Aunt Jen was pacing the living room floor when Henry and Charlie arrived.

"Charlie! Oh, Charlie!" The woman threw her arms around her niece, who gladly embraced her in return. "I was so worried…"

"Me too." Charlie admitted.

"Are you hungry? I made potato and leek soup."

"Yeah… that would be great, actually."

Aunt Jen scampered off to the kitchen, leaving Henry and Charlie alone. He sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him. She was a little reluctant to sit down, memories of their last encounter still fresh in her mind.

"Charlotte… I'm so sorry. For everything." Her father's voice was raspy. He removed his glasses and she had to look away as he wiped his tired eyes. Seeing him cry felt… wrong. He was the strongest person she knew. Aunt Jen walked back into the room with a large bowl of soup and two slices of french bread on a plate. She gingerly set them down on the coffee table in front of Charlie and immediately retreated to the guest bedroom upstairs. Charlie dipped her spoon into the soup and slurped it up gratefully. She hadn't had a real meal since the Green River Diner.

"I hurt you. Not just a few days ago. I've been hurting you for a long time." Henry put his glasses back on and stared straight ahead. "You're right about everything. All I want is to get away from what I've done, but those things… the things I've done, won't go away."

Charlie put her spoon down and dipped a piece of bread into her soup, staring at her father and waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she took a deep breath and stared into her bowl.

"All I want to know is the truth." She whispered. She was tired of being angry and in pain.

"I know." Henry whispered back, "I just… I don't know where to begin."

"Something happened to Michael while we were down in William's warehouse. I don't know what, but it had something to do with that thing you invented. Can we start with that?"

"The Scooper." Henry clasped his hands together and rested his forehead on them. "Charlie, I need you to understand that everything I did, I did with good intentions. The Scooper was intended to fix the damage William caused, but it only made things worse, especially when he got a hold of the blueprints."

"What does it do?" The tips of Charlie's fingers slipped into her soup as the bread between her fingers disintegrated.

"From a technical standpoint, it disassembles animatronics. I intended to use that capability to remove the corpses William stuffed into my robots at each location." Henry tensed.

Charlie licked soup off her fingers then gingerly pushed the bowl away, her appetite suddenly lacking.

"I think William used the Scooper on Michael, but…"

"But what?"

"He was still walking and talking. If the Scooper was made to disassemble animatronics, he should be a mangled corpse."

Henry's breath hitched in his throat.

"Not necessarily. There's… there's a secondary function. Once the corpse is removed, something remains."

"...Remnant?" Charlie choked out. Her father looked baffled.

"Yes. How did you-"

"You won't believe me if I tell you."

The two stared at each other for several seconds before Henry spoke again.

"..The remnant remains. The machine collects it, and it can be injected back into the robot, or, in.." Henry trailed off and tilted Charlie's chin up with his fingers. "...Into a human body."

A single tear rolled down Charlie's cheek.

"I've done several experiments with the robots, with remnant. They all failed. I couldn't save any of William's victims except for…" He trailed off again.

"Me." Charlie whispered. "But why? What makes me different?"

Henry swallowed hard and released his daughter's chin.

"You have more than remnant going for you."

Charlie vividly recalled her conversation with the blonde woman in Michael's bedroom, but at that moment she desperately wanted it to be a fever dream.

"Charlie, I'm not going to treat you like you're stupid. You remember what happened the night I said you got into a car accident, I know it."

Some anger reemerged, but Charlie swallowed hard.

"I do. William and Elizabeth attacked me and left me to die behind Junior's."

Henry nodded.

"I found you, took you home, took you to the workshop…" He trailed off again.

"And you… you brought me back. But how?"

"It was a combination of remnant and… mechanical knowhow, if you can believe that."

"I do." Charlie's voice shook.

"I couldn't lose you, Charlotte. I've already lost so much."

"I know." She crossed her arms, feeling cold again. "Do you think William did something similar to Michael?"

No response. Charlie looked over at her father, who was staring at the floor.

"...I have something to show you, but it has to wait until tomorrow." He said finally.

"Can't we go tonight? I'm done eating." Charlie said quickly.

"No. You need to sleep first."

Charlie opened her mouth to argue, but she yawned in the process.

"I'll put your dishes away. Go take your pills and get ready for bed." Henry stood up. Charlie limped up the stairs with a sigh. She was incredibly grateful to be home, but the little things would annoy her once again. Her room was exactly as she'd left it- messy. The first thing she did was pull Theodore out from under the bed, hugging him to her chest. She took him to the bathroom and set him on the tiled floor while she brushed her teeth and took her pills.

Once back out in the hallway, she paused. The prospect of being in a bed by herself was terrifying, even with Theodore by her side. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Michael's comforting presence. She swallowed hard and ran to her father's room, where she jumped onto his bed and buried herself under his covers. When he arrived a few minutes later, she was just starting to drift off. The mattress sunk down as he sat next to her, stroking the scar on her forehead once again.

"No more secrets, Charlotte." He whispered. _No more secrets._ Her father's secrets were all Charlie had ever wanted to know, but deep down she wasn't sure if she was ready.


	25. Chapter 25: A Curious Predicament

_**Author's Note: 25 chapters. Wow. Thank you for sticking with me for 25 chapters! All your support is immensely appreciated!**_

Charlie woke up to her father gently shaking her.

"Mmmf?"

"Just making sure you're okay." He whispered.

"Mmm." She pulled the covers over her head. The mattress rose as Henry got off of it seconds later. "...Where are you going?"

No response. Charlie's pills had a death grip on her- she immediately drifted back off, but only for a minute. When she opened her eyes again, her father was standing by the window, having pulled the curtains back. He darted away from it seconds later, and she blacked out again. Charlie's eyes didn't open again, but she heard him getting dressed. The last thing she was aware of was his touch. He gently pulled the covers down and away from her face in order to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. Then he was gone.

* * *

When Charlie woke up next, she immediately kicked the covers off and made her way downstairs, still dazed from her medication. Everything that had happened the previous night seemed like some kind of fever dream. She went to her room and put on some fresh clothes before heading downstairs.

"Dad?" She called as she descended the stairs. No response. "Aunt Jen?"

"In the kitchen." Her aunt called back. Charlie entered the kitchen apprehensively.

"Where's dad?"

Aunt Jen frowned.

"I thought he was still sleeping."

"No? I stayed in his bed last night and he's gone."

Aunt Jen flipped the pancake on the griddle in front of her.

"Check the workshop. He's been in there at all sorts of odd hours lately."

Charlie darted out the back door, not bothering to put on her boots. The cold snow stung her feet as she made her way to the workshop. The door was slightly ajar and relief washed over her. Her father left the door open when he was inside because the lock was somewhat faulty and he'd gotten trapped a few times.

"Dad…?" She stepped into the workshop slowly. Her father didn't acknowledge her. He was staring out the window, gripping its frame. His tools were scattered everywhere and boxes of parts were overturned. "Dad?"

"Everything's gone."

"What are you talking about?"

Henry turned around.

"My blueprints. All of them. I hid them throughout the workshop, and they're all gone."

"...William?" Charlie whispered. Henry nodded.

"We have to get to Junior's."

 _Junior's_? What could possibly be at Junior's?

"Get your boots on. We have to go _now._ "

Charlie nodded and darted back into the house, her father following her closely.

" _There_ you are!" Aunt Jen chirped. "Sit down, I made pancakes."

"Later, Jen. It's inventory day at Junior's and we need to run. Where are your keys?"

"On the coffee table. Is everything okay?"

"Fine. See you later."

Charlie hurriedly laced her boots and rushed to Aunt Jen's green Honda, taking care not to slip on the icy sidewalk. Her father joined her seconds later, holding a large baggie of pancakes.

"Your aunt insisted." He tossed the bag to her.

"What's at Junior's?" She asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Something that William _cannot_ get his hands on. Not if we're going to make things right."

* * *

They arrived at Junior's in record time. The parking lot was packed, which was unusual for a late Tuesday morning.

"It's some kind of day off for the elementary kids today." Henry explained as they rushed through the front door. "Now come on, we have to get to the back."

"Mr. Emily!" Vanessa approached the duo, flashing a megawatt smile. Her jaw dropped when she spotted Charlie. "You found her?"

"Vanessa, I don't really have time to talk right now. Give me a few minutes." Henry rushed past the girl, Charlie following closely behind him.

"Who's that?" She asked as her father fumbled with his keyring upon reaching the backroom door.

"That's my new technician, Vanessa."

"Oh." Charlie said bitterly.

"She just started a few days ago. You'll like her." Her father didn't seem to notice her tone. He clamored into the back room and darted past his work table. "It's still here. Thank God."

Charlie tentatively walked up behind him.

"Your prototype? What would William want with your prototype?"

"It's more than just a prototype, Charlie." Henry breathed, suddenly looking pained. "His name is Lefty."

Charlie squinted. _The missing eye._ This was the animatronic she'd seen in the doorway the night she was attacked.

"He… he found me that night. I remember."

Henry sighed deeply and nodded.

"He knew you were in trouble. I programmed him to look out for you… and Sammy."

"Sammy?" Charlie inquired with a strained voice.

"...The puppet." Henry's voice was equally strained.

"The puppet? Sammy's…" _The voice. The music box._ "Sammy's _in_ the puppet?"

Henry nodded and turned away from her.

"William's first victim. Your brother. I didn't realize what had happened until the music box started to smell."

Charlie clapped a hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

"I have a plan to free him, Charlie. I have a plan to free all of them. But it involves a lot of careful planning."

"Michael had a plan, too."

"What?"

"Michael. He mentioned that he was doing research, which is why he took the job at Freddy and Friends'. If we can find him, he can help us."

Her father turned back to her, looking stung.

"Charlie, _no._ Not after what he did."

"He's haunted by it. It's literally tearing him up inside and he'll do anything to get closure. Just like you."

"Charlotte-"

"Dad, _please._ I...I love him."

Henry exhaled sharply.

"I know it's crazy. You can be as mad at him as you want, but _please_ help him. He can help us."

"...Okay, Charlie. Okay. But what you, and him, need to understand is that I have a very specific vision. You have to follow my plan. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Charlie whispered, her tears of pain turning into tears of relief.

"I want to help, too."

Charlie and Henry jumped. Vanessa stood in the doorway, tears in her own eyes.

"Vanessa-" Henry started.

"Please, Mr. Emily. I've heard all the rumors about the missing kids and I want to help with whatever plan you have."

Charlie bit her lip to keep from swearing at the other girl. Henry looked at his daughter, who shook her head vigorously.

"This is personal, Vanessa. I'm sorry."

Vanessa frowned.

"Okay. I understand." She left the two alone.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Charlie snapped.

"That's just Vanessa for you. She wants to be involved with everything." Henry took one last, sad look at Lefty and headed out the door. "Do you have an idea of where Michael is?"

Charlie nodded.

"Yes, but I need to drive. It's hard to find."

* * *

Charlie and her father drove in a harrowing silence. He clearly knew where they were going and sighed constantly as he stared out the window. He started to get out of the car when they arrived at the old house, but Charlie stopped him.

"It's better if I go alone. Just for now." She said with a sad smile. Henry nodded slowly.

"Be careful."

The TV was on- Charlie could see it through the window as she got out of the car. Michael was home. She involuntarily shuddered as she knocked on the door. There was the sound of heavy, running footsteps inside the house.

"Michael? Michael, it's me." She called. More running footsteps, this time distant.

She tried to open the door- it was locked. "Michael, come on! I need help!" Silence. She kicked the door. Much to her surprise, the old lock gave way and granted her entrance.

"Michael!" More silence. The living room was just as torn up as her father's workshop- all of the books and albums were off the bookshelves and on the floor. The contents of the duffle bag they'd taken with them a few days prior were sprawled all over. The hallway floor creaked and Charlie looked over to see Michael making a mad dash for the bathroom. She raced over and stuck her foot between the door and the doorframe before he could slam it shut.

"Michael!"

"Don't. Come. Any. Closer." His voice was raspy and it sounded as though speaking was painful for him.

"Michael, please. Your dad took my dad's blueprints. He's going to do something bad." She trailed off as he turned to face her.

"Of course he's going to do something bad." Michael stepped towards her. His skin was sullen and had taken on a sickly, pale hue.

"I… I know what happened to you." She said calmly. "Your dad used the Scooper."

Michael advanced further but Charlie didn't take even a single step back. Those iridescent eyes, although foreboding, were possessive and somehow enamouring.

"And you're not afraid?"

"No. You're still you. That's the way the machine works- the remnant...it stays."

Michael touched Charlie's face and she finally shied away- his hand was clammy.

"I'm still me." He repeated. Charlie put her hand on his and leaned forward until their foreheads were pressed together.

"Charlotte, I… I really didn't think you'd come and find me."

"I need you." She whispered, "My dad has a plan, and-"

Michael tilted her chin up with his fingers and she closed her eyes.

"Do you still trust me?"

"Of course."

Charlie didn't realize that his lips were pressed against hers at first- the warm sensation wasn't there. She tasted lingering cigarette smoke. Kissing him wasn't an unpleasant experience, but it was strange.

"I love you, Charlotte." He whispered.

"I love you too." Charlie's response was barely audible. When she opened her eyes, he wasn't looking at her. He was looking behind her, at her father. Charlie turned to face him, trying to decode his expression. It was one of contempt, yet his lips were curled into a half smile.

"Well, Michael. It's been quite awhile." He said softly. Michael looked like he wanted to bolt, so Charlie grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Charlie tells me that my old friend did quite a number on you."

"Let's go to the bedroom. There's more space and it's not in such a messy state." Michael rasped.

"Lead the way." Henry stepped out of the bathroom. Once Michael was situated on the bed, Henry pulled out his mini flashlight.

"Can you follow this with your eyes?"

Charlie stood in the corner, watching as Michael's eyes gleamed in the light.

"Okay… open your mouth." Henry's voice was gentle. Once he'd examined Michael's mouth, he picked up his arm and flexed it a few times. "I have to say, I've never seen anything like this." The mechanist said softly.

"What is it?" Charlie choked out.

"There's an entire endoskeleton in there."

"What?" Charlie and Michael said together.

"I don't know how he did it, but you're essentially an animatronic, kid."

"Can you help him?" There was a painful pleading in Charlie's voice. Henry sighed.

"Well, his skin is decaying and he has no internal organs. I'll see what I can do, but…"

"You can do it. Just do what you did for me."

"I'm afraid his situation is more complex, Charlotte. I don't know if I can do it, but I'm willing to try."


	26. Chapter 26: Endings

Henry had taken Michael to the workshop at exactly 12:09. Charlie knew this because she'd glanced at the digital clock on the stove as they'd walked out the back door. It was 6:15 now, and no news was good news. At least, that was what she told herself. She picked at the TV dinner in front of her, pondering what could possibly be done. Her phone chimed. _John_.

 _I heard a rumor that you were back._

She sighed as she typed.

 _Yeah. I'm home._

 _Can I see you? I'm home for the weekend._

Charlie was taken aback.

 _You want to see me?_

 _Yeah. I've been really worried._

She stood up and glanced out the kitchen window- the light was still on in the workshop, meaning that her father was still hard at work.

 _Yeah, you can come over._

 _Great. See you in 10._

She sighed and threw her uneaten dinner in the trash. Aunt Jen walked in and shook her head disapprovingly.

"Charlotte Marie, you've _got_ to eat something."

"I'm not hungry. Besides, John's coming over."

Her aunt looked just as startled as she'd been upon reading the text.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but..." She'd talked to her aunt earlier in the afternoon, filling her in on everything that had happened since she'd run away. "I'm scared to see him."

Aunt Jen nodded slowly.

"What about Marla and Jessica?"

"I don't think they want anything to do with me anymore." Charlie said miserably, turning around and walking into the living room. She turned the TV on, wanting to numb her anxiety. There was a commercial for Freddy Fazbear's that featured a cartoon Freddy dancing around the screen. She smiled a little, wondering how the older location was doing. Those animatronics were essentially updated versions of the diner models that sat in the backroom of Freddy and Friends'. She had a feeling that she'd see Freddy Fazbear's again quite soon, but it wasn't necessarily a good feeling.

The doorbell rang just as some kid's show came on. Charlie jumped up and ran to the door. Her enthusiasm tanked when she opened it, however. John sulked, his hands buried deep in his coat pockets.

"...Hey."

"Hey."

They just stared at each other. Charlie tried a smile but it wasn't returned.

"...Come in." She said finally, stepping aside. John didn't take his coat off before sitting on the couch, indicating a short visit. Charlie sat next to him and stared at the TV.

"Didn't know you were a _Squirrel Tales_ Fan." She got a small smile out of John at last.

"It was just on and I was bored." She turned the TV off and both shifted uncomfortably.

"So…"

"So…" She repeated. Aunt Jen was pretending to clean the kitchen- Charlie knew that she was actually listening in on her conversation.

"Is it really over?" _Damn._ She picked at a loose thread on the couch.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

She looked away, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes. _Yes, it's over. I love him._ That was all she needed to say to be done with the whole debacle, but she couldn't.

"Do you love him?"

The back door creaked open and Charlie's breath hitched in her throat.

"Be honest." The pain in John's voice stung her to the core.

"I-I..." There were footsteps in the kitchen and she glanced over to see a dazed Michael. Aunt Jen whispered something and he sat down in a chair. She heard her father do the same.

"Charlie, it's okay." He took her hands.

"No it's not." She choked. "I… I'm hurting you and… three years..."

"Are you happy with him?"

"John-"

"I just want you to be happy, Charlie."

"I still need you. I never stopped needing you." She sobbed. "But I just, I do love him, and-"

"Hey." John squeezed her hands tightly. "Look at me."

She tore her gaze away from the floor.

"I promise that I'm still here for you. Marla, Jessica, Lamar, and Carlton are too."

"Marla and Jessica hate me."

"That's not what they told me. I met up with everyone earlier and we all agreed that we want to be here for you. We want you to be okay and happy."

Charlie threw her arms around him.

"I'm sorry for everything."

John gently rubbed her back.

"It's okay, Charlie. We all still love you."

They held each other for a few minutes. It was her that broke away, looking to the kitchen.

"I should… I have to…"

John nodded and stood up. He made his way to the door and gave her a sad smile before heading into the blustery winter evening. Charlie stood up and watched him drive away, allowing her tears to flow at last. She plopped back down on the couch and buried her face in her hands once the gray Toyota was gone. The cushion beside her sunk down a second later and there was a hand on her back. She looked over to see Michael. His skin was no longer sullen and his previously empty eyes were vibrant. They still had that odd iridescence, but it wasn't off putting like before.

"How did-"

"I don't know. I don't remember anything." Michael's voice was no longer raspy and strained. Henry walked into the room, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

"Good. It wasn't a pleasant process by any means."

"So he's like me?" Charlie inquired, unable to take her eyes off him.

"Yes and no. At the risk of being graphic, _you_ still have the majority of your organs. He had next to nothing, save for his brain. That's very fortunate- he'd have the mind of an animatronic otherwise. I'd have to program him to function."

"The remnant helps too, right?"

"Yes, the remnant helps." Henry chuckled. Michael took Charlie's head in his hands, stroking her wet cheekbone with his thumb.

"Thanks, dad." She whispered, still focused on her companion.

"Now… I have a little more planning to do. We'll talk tomorrow morning and get things rolling."

"Okay." Charlie turned to her father at last and they exchanged sad smiles before he turned away and headed back into the kitchen. She waited until the back door closed to give Michael a tender kiss. This time his lips were warm.

"I don't know how, but I'm freaking exhausted." He sighed when they parted.

"Me too." Charlie agreed. "Do you… want to go upstairs?"

Michael gave her a tired smile. She took his hand and led him up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Where are you going to sleep?" He inquired.

"Oh! Um...I mean, I kind of thought…" She stammered. _You idiot._

"I don't want to sleep alone either." He said softly. She turned to face him, resting a hand on his chest. She could feel stitches through the thin fabric of his purple dress shirt.

They had a long road ahead of them, and that visceral feeling of dread was looming over Charlie once again.

* * *

"Charlotte!"

Charlie woke up to Michael hissing her name. She opened her eyes just as the bedroom door slammed shut. Michael was shaking violently- so much so that Charlie could feel the mattress trembling.

"What did you see?" She whispered, grabbing his shoulders.

"That… that bear. The black one. He was _right. In front. Of. The bed._ " There was a loud crash somewhere in the house followed by Henry yelling.

"Oh my God, _dad_!" Charlie jumped off the bed.

"Wait! That.. that _thing's_ out there!" Michael grabbed her shoulder. There was another crash.

"I have to find my dad!" She broke away and fumbled for the flashlight she kept in her bedside table drawer. It was small, but it would have to do. She opened the bedroom door as discreetly as she could- it still creaked angrily, no matter how slow she went. The frightful bear was nowhere to be seen in the dark hallway. Michael tried the hallway lightswitch by the door and sighed.

"Of course the power's out."

"It hates light, remember?" Charlie hissed, running to the stairs. She paused on the top landing. It was quiet downstairs- eerily quiet.

"It's gone for now." She stepped down.

"Charlotte!" Michael grabbed her. "I don't like this. It's messing with us."

"Charlie?" Her father gasped from the bottom of the stairs.

"Dad!" Charlie broke away from Michael and darted downstairs to find her father facedown on the floor.

"Charlie, you have to get out of here." He weakly craned his neck to look at her. There was blood coming from his mouth. "They're… William…it doesn't work..."

" _What_ doesn't work?"

Henry coughed and reached for the small device a few feet away from him.

"The… shock d-device. It's… it… you have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you. Michael, help me-"

Deep laughter filled the house.

"No." Charlie breathed. The deep laughter sounded again, much closer this time. Charlie was hit with a sudden wave of nausea and collapsed. It felt as though there were several weights attached to her limbs. The large black bear she'd become all too familiar with emerged from the darkness. It lumbered towards Henry and Charlie screamed.

"Charlotte… I love you, Charlotte." Henry gasped as the creature bent down and took his head in its diabolical claws. Charlie was now struggling to raise her head, which was also pinned to the floor by an unseen force. Michael ran to her and tried to help her up, but even he couldn't lift her. "THE FLASHLIGHT! GET THE FLASHLIGHT!"

"Charlotte, l-lis-listen to m-me, Ch-charlotte. You have to… burn it. Burn them…free them..." Henry managed to rasp before the nightmare bear picked him up and wrapped its paws around his neck.

"NO!"

The bear let out a roar as Michael shined the flashlight directly into its red eyes. It threw Henry down and retreated to the kitchen, where it was pursued by him. The weights disappeared and Charlie crawled to her gasping father. His lips were moving but he wasn't speaking.

"Dad…"

His breathing grew shallow and frantic after a few seconds and he stopped trying to speak.

"You'll be okay." Charlie sobbed, taking one of his bloodied hands in hers. He reached up with his free hand and touched her face, his lips weakly curling into a small smile. She couldn't be certain, but she thought she heard him utter her name again.

"You'll be okay!" She repeated, pain and desperation lacing her voice. His hand dropped and he closed his eyes. "Dad? DAD!"

Michael lingered in the nearby doorway, panting and watching the morbid scene unfold. Charlie broke into hysterical sobs and collapsed, hugging her father's lifeless body.

"Charlotte, we have to get out of here. It's gone for now, but-"

"NO!" She yelled. She willed the bear to come back- the pain she was feeling ransacked her mind _and_ body. Without her father, without his guidance, without his secrets, she was lost. William had won.

-The End-

 _Author's Note: Yes, this is the end of "Autophobia". However, it is_ _ **not**_ _the end of the storyline. There's a sequel in the works, and I'm hoping for your continued support. I'm including a little snippet/summary of the next fic because I appreciate you guys and your feedback so much. :)_

* * *

 _Without her father, without his guidance, without his secrets, she's lost._

Charlie clearly remembers her father's disjointed last words: _Burn them. Free them._ As she and Michael scramble to piece together his carefully laid out plan, a new series of murders rocks Hurricane- and this time they're at Junior's Pizzeria. Charlie reluctantly calls on her friends and Vanessa to further unravel the secrets of Freddy's, but she soon realizes that they're not just revealing secrets, they're playing a dangerous game- a game with deadly repercussions.


End file.
